Control problem for quadratic parabolic differential equations with sparse sensor sets of finite volume or anisotropically decaying density

Abstract

We prove observability and null-controllability for quadratic parabolic differential equations. The sensor set is allowed to be sparse and have finite volume if the generator has trivial singular space $S$. In the case of generators with singular space $S \neq \{0\}$ the sensor set is permitted to decay in directions determined by $S$. The proof is based on dissipation estimates for the quadratic differential operator with respect to spectral projections of partial harmonic oscillators and corresponding uncertainty relations.