A symmetry formula for the spectral fractional Laplacian, and applications to boundary controllability for plate equation with structural damping

Abstract

Let $Δ$ be the Dirichlet Laplacian on a bounded domain $Ω\subset \mathbb{R}^{N}$, and let $(-Δ)^α$ be the associated spectral fractional Laplacian with $α\leq 1, \ ρ<2$. For general bounded domains with $C^2$ boundary, we prove a symmetry formula for $α<1/2$, extending a result previously proven on rectangles for $α<1$. As a consequence of this formula, well-posedness results are proven for the structurally damped plate equation $$u_{tt}+Δ^2u+(-Δ)^αu_t=0$$ subject to Dirichlet or moment boundary control. For rectangular domains with $α<1$, we prove boundary null-controllability results. For $α<1/2, \ ρ\leq 2$, Dirichlet null controllability is proved for the unit disk in $\mathbb{R}^2$. This analysis then extended to the classical case, $α=1$, on rectangles, where higher regularity is required for Dirichlet control.