Observability of wave and plate equations with rough coefficients and interfaces: a multiplier approach

Abstract

The goal of this article is to derive observability properties for wave and plate equations with rough coefficients in the principal part, including the case of interfaces, through a regularization process. Specifically, we demonstrate that if a singular coefficient can be approximated by a sequence of smooth coefficients corresponding to uniformly observable systems, then the observability inequalities can be passed to the limit. This allows us to derive observability properties for the limit system. While this strategy is natural, we show that it can be used to establish new observability results in several settings, particularly in the presence of interfaces meeting the boundary, or multiple interfaces intersecting at a point, under a suitable multiplier-type condition that imposes sign constraints on the jumps of the coefficients at the interfaces. A key advantage of this approach is that it avoids the need for a detailed analysis of the regularity of solutions near the sets where the coefficients are singular.