Carleman Estimates for Parabolic Equations with Nonhomogeneous Boundary Conditions

The authors prove a new Carleman estimate for general linear second order parabolic equation with nonhomogeneous boundary conditions. On the basis of this estimate, improved Carleman estimates for the Stokes system and for a system of parabolic equations with a penalty term are obtained. This system can be viewed as an approximation of the Stokes system.     

Uniqueness and stability in inverse parabolic equations with memory

First we establish a Carleman estimate for parabolic equations with second order spatial memory. Then we prove the stability results for the coefficient q from a measurement of the solution with respect to the normal derivative on an arbitrary part of the boundary and certain spatial derivatives at t=θ. Further we deduce the uniqueness result under some equivalence conditions on the solutions about the potential q. The proof of the results rely on Carleman estimates and certain energy estimates for parabolic equations with memory.     

Carleman estimates and inverse problems for Dirac operators

We consider limiting Carleman weights for Dirac operators and prove corresponding Carleman estimates. In particular, we show that limiting Carleman weights for the Laplacian also serve as limiting weights for Dirac operators. As an application we consider the inverse problem of recovering a Lipschitz continuous magnetic field and electric potential from boundary measurements for the Pauli Dirac operator. M. Salo is supported by the Academy of Finland. L. Tzou is supported by the Doctoral Post-Graduate Scholarship from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. This article was written while L. Tzou was visiting the University of Helsinki and TKK, whose hospitality is gratefully acknowledged. The authors would like to thank András Vasy and Lauri Ylinen for useful comments.     

Carleman estimate for a strongly damped wave equation and applications to an inverse problem

In this paper, we establish a Carleman estimate for a strongly damped wave equation in order to solve a coefficient inverse problems of retrieving a stationary potential from a single time‐dependent Neumann boundary measurement on a suitable part of the boundary. This coefficient inverse problem is for a strongly damped wave equation. We prove the uniqueness and the local stability results for this inverse problem. The proof of the results relies on Carleman estimate and a certain energy estimates for hyperbolic equation with strongly damped term. Moreover, this method could be used for a similar inverse problem for an integro‐differential equation with hyperbolic memory kernel. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inverse viscosity problem for the Navier-Stokes equation

We consider an inverse problem of determining a viscosity coefficient in the Navier-Stokes equation by observation data in a neighborhood of the boundary. We prove the Lipschitz stability by the Carleman estimates in Sobolev spaces of negative order.     

Stability of Diffusion Coefficients in an Inverse Problem for the Lotka-Volterra Competition System

First we establish a Carleman estimate for Lotka-Volterra competition-diffusion system of three equations with variable coefficients. Then the internal observations with two measurements are allowed to obtain the stability result for the inverse problem consisting of retrieving two smooth diffusion coefficients in the given parabolic system for the dimension n≤3. The proof of the results rely on Carleman estimates and certain energy estimates for parabolic system.     

Erratum to: Stability of Diffusion Coefficients in an Inverse Problem for the Lotka-Volterra Competition System

First we establish a Carleman estimate for Lotka-Volterra competition-diffusion system of three equations with variable coefficients. Then the internal observations with two measurements are allowed to obtain the stability result for the inverse problem consisting of retrieving two smooth diffusion coefficients in the given parabolic system for the dimension n≤3. The proof of the results rely on Carleman estimates and certain energy estimates for parabolic system.     

Inverse problem for structural acoustic interaction

We consider an inverse problem of determining a source term for a structural acoustic partial differential equation (PDE) model that is comprised of a two- or a three-dimensional interior acoustic wave equation coupled to an elastic plate equation. The coupling takes place across a boundary interface. For this PDE system, we obtain uniqueness and stability estimates for the source term from a single measurement of boundary values of the “structure” (acceleration of the elastic plate). The proof of uniqueness is based on a Carleman estimate (first version) of the wave problem within the chamber. The proof of stability relies on three main points: (i) a more refined Carleman estimate (second version) and its resulting implication, a continuous observability-type estimate; (ii) a compactness/uniqueness argument; (iii) an operator theoretic approach for obtaining the needed regularity in terms of the initial conditions.     

Global Carleman Estimates for Waves and Applications

In this article, we extensively develop Carleman estimates for the wave equation and give some applications. We focus on the case of an observation of the flux on a part of the boundary satisfying the Gamma conditions of Lions. We will then consider two applications. The first one deals with the exact controllability problem for the wave equation with potential. Following the duality method proposed by Fursikov and Imanuvilov in the context of parabolic equations, we propose a constructive method to derive controls that weakly depend on the potentials. The second application concerns an inverse problem for the waves that consists in recovering an unknown time-independent potential from a single measurement of the flux. In that context, our approach does not yield any new stability result, but proposes a constructive algorithm to rebuild the potential. In both cases, the main idea is to introduce weighted functionals that contain the Carleman weights and then to take advantage of the freedom on the Carleman parameters to limit the influences of the potentials.     

Carleman estimates for the regularization of ill-posed Cauchy problems

This work is a survey of results for ill-posed Cauchy problems for PDEs of the author with co-authors starting from 1991. A universal method of the regularization of these problems is presented here. Even though the idea of this method was previously discussed for specific problems, a universal approach of this paper was not discussed, at least in detail. This approach consists in constructing of such Tikhonov functionals which are generated by unbounded linear operators of those PDEs. The approach is quite general one, since it is applicable to all PDE operators for which Carleman estimates are valid. Three main types of operators of the second order are among them: elliptic, parabolic and hyperbolic ones. The key idea is that convergence rates of minimizers are established using Carleman estimates. Generalizations to nonlinear inverse problems, such as problems of reconstructions of obstacles and coefficient inverse problems are also feasible.     

Carleman estimates for stochastic parabolic equations with Neumann boundary conditions and applications

By a dual method, two Carleman estimates for forward and backward stochastic parabolic equations with Neumann boundary conditions are established. Then they are used to study a null controllability problem and a state observation problem for some stochastic forward parabolic equations with Neumann boundary conditions.     

A Contact Problem of the Interaction of a Semi-Finite Inclusion with a Plate

A piece wise-homogeneous plane made up of twodifferent materials and reinforced by an elastic unclusion is considered on a semi-finite section where the different materials join. Vertical and horizontal forces are applied to the inclusion which haz a variable thichness and a variable elasticity modulus.Under certain conditions the problem is reduced to integrodifferential equations of third order. The solution is constructed effectively by applying the methods of theory of analytic functions to a boundary value problem of the Carleman type for a strip. Asymptotic estimates of normal contact stress are obtained.     

Null controllability of degenerate parabolic equations

Motivated by a boundary layer problem, we are interested in the controllability properties of parabolic equations degenerating at the boundary of the space domain. We derive new Carleman estimates for a class of degenerate parabolic equation; the proof is based in particular on Hardytype inequalities. Then we deduce observability and null controllability results. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A Note on the Generalized Carleman Boundary Value Problem for the System with Constant Coefficients of the Class E2

The main purpose of this note is to consider the generalized Carleman boundary value problem for the elliptic equations with constant coefficients of the second type in the simple connected domain of complex plane. Making use of Fredholm integral equations and the classica1 theory of the boundary value problem for analytic functions, we obtain the existence, uniqueness and the representation of solution for above Carleman boundary value problem.     

Sharp three sphere inequality for perturbations of a product of two second order elliptic operators and stability for the Cauchy problem for the anisotropic plate equation

We prove a sharp three sphere inequality for solutions to third order perturbations of a product of two second order elliptic operators with real coefficients. Then we derive various kinds of quantitative estimates of unique continuation for the anisotropic plate equation. Among these, we prove a stability estimate for the Cauchy problem for such an equation and we illustrate some applications to the size estimates of an unknown inclusion made of different material that might be present in the plate. The paper is self-contained and the Carleman estimate, from which the sharp three sphere inequality is derived, is proved in an elementary and direct way based on standard integration by parts.     

Calculation of the Defect Numbers of the Generalized Hilbert and Carleman Boundary Value Problems with Linear Fractional Carleman Shift

The defect numbers of the generalized Hilbert and Carleman boundary value problems with a direct or an inverse linear fractional Carleman shift of order 2 (α (α (t)) ≡ t) on the unit circle are computed. The approach followed consists of the reduction of the mentioned problems to singular integral equations with linear fractional Carleman shift and of the factorization of Hermitian matrix functions with negative determinant.     

Quantitative uniqueness estimates for the general second order elliptic equations

In this paper we study quantitative uniqueness estimates of solutions to general second order elliptic equations with magnetic and electric potentials. We derive lower bounds of decay rate at infinity for any nontrivial solution under some general assumptions. The lower bounds depend on asymptotic behaviors of magnetic and electric potentials. The proof is carried out by the Carleman method and bootstrapping arguments.     

Stability of Inverse Problems for Ultrahyperbolic Equations

In this paper, the authors consider inverse problems of determining a coefficient or a source term in an ultrahyperbolic equation by some lateral boundary data. The authors prove Hlder estimates which are global and local and the key tool is Carleman estimate.     

Controllability results for the two-dimensional heat equation with mixed boundary conditions using Carleman inequalities: a linear and a semilinear case

In this paper, we prove controllability results for a two-dimensional semilinear heat equation with mixed boundary conditions. It is well-known that mixed boundary conditions can present a singular behaviour of the solution. First, we will prove global Carleman estimates then we will use these inequalities to obtain controllability results.     

Local exact controllability for the two- and three-dimensional compressible Navier–Stokes equations

The goal of this article is to present a local exact controllability result for the two- and three-dimensional compressible Navier–Stokes equations on a constant target trajectory when the controls act on the whole boundary. Our study is then based on the observability of the adjoint system of some linearized version of the system, which is analyzed using a subsystem for which the coupling terms are somewhat weaker. In this step, we strongly use Carleman estimates in negative Sobolev spaces.