Null boundary controllability of a one-dimensional heat equation with internal point masses and variable coefficients

Abstract

In this paper, we consider a linear hybrid system which is composed of $N+1$ non-homogeneous thin rods connected by $N$ interior-point masses with a Dirichlet boundary condition on the left end, and Dirichlet control on the right end. Using a detailed spectral analysis and the moment theory, we prove that this system is null controllable at any positive time $T$. To this end, firstly, we implement the Wronskian technique to obtain the characteristic equation for the eigenvalues $(\lambda_{n})_{n\in\N^*}$ associated with this system. Secondly, we provide that the eigenvalues $(\lambda_{n})_{n\in\N^*}$ interlace those of the $N+1$ decoupled rods with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions, and satisfy the so-called Weyl's asymptotic formula. Finally, we establish sharp asymptotic estimates of the eigenvalues $(\lambda_{n})_{n\in\N^*}$. As consequence, on one hand, we prove a uniform lower bound for the spectral gap. On another hand, we derive the equivalence between the $\mathcal{H}$-norm of the eigenfunctions and their first derivative at the right end. As an application of our spectral analysis, we also present new controllability result for the Schr\"{o}dinger equation with an internal point mass and Dirichlet control on the left end.