Higher order optimization and adaptive numerical solution for optimal control of monodomain equations in cardiac electrophysiology

In this work adaptive and high resolution numerical discretization techniques are demonstrated for solving optimal control of the monodomain equations in cardiac electrophysiology. A monodomain model, which is a well established model for describing the wave propagation of the action potential in the cardiac tissue, will be employed for the numerical experiments. The optimal control problem is considered as a PDE constrained optimization problem. We present an optimal control formulation for the monodomain equations with an extra-cellular current as the control variable which must be determined in such a way that excitations of the transmembrane voltage are damped in an optimal manner.The focus of this work is on the development and implementation of an efficient numerical technique to solve an optimal control problem related to a reaction-diffusions system arising in cardiac electrophysiology. Specifically a Newton-type method for the monodomain model is developed. The numerical treatment is enhanced by using a second order time stepping method and adaptive grid refinement techniques. The numerical results clearly show that super-linear convergence is achieved in practice.     

An optimal boundary control problem for the motion equations of polymer solutions

We study an optimal boundary control problem for stationary equations of a model of the motion of weakly concentrated water solutions of polymers. Sufficient conditions are obtained for the solvability of the problem. Some properties of the set of optimal solutions are established.     

Numerical solution of differential Riccati equations arising in optimal control for parabolic PDEs

The numerical treatment of linear-quadratic regulator problems on finite time horizons for parabolic partial differential equations requires the solution of large-scale differential Riccati equations (DREs). Typically the coefficient matrices of the resulting DRE have a given structure (e.g. sparse, symmetric or low rank). Here we discuss numerical methods for solving DREs capable of exploiting this structure. These methods are based on a matrix-valued implementation of the BDF methods. The crucial question of suitable stepsize and order selection strategies is also addressed. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Numerical solutions for functional integral equations

Convergence criteria are given for a family of numerical methodsfor functional integral equations with delay. Several numericalmethods are compared.     

Numerical approximation of nonconvex optimal control problems defined by parabolic equations

In this paper, we consider an optimal control problem for distributed systems governed by parabolic equations. The state equations are nonlinear in the control variable; the constraints and the cost functional are generally nonconvex. Relaxed controls are used to prove existence and derive necessary conditions for optimality. To compute optimal controls, a descent method is applied to the resulting relaxed problem. A numerical method is also given for approximating a special class of relaxed controls, notably those obtained by the descent method. Convergence proofs are given for both methods, and a numerical example is provided.     

Variation formulas of solutions and optimal control problems for differential equations with retarded argument

The authors prove a theorem on the continuous dependence of solutions of nonlinear systems of differential equations with variable delay on the perturbations of initial data (initial instant, initial function, and initial value of the trajectory) and the right-hand side in the case where these perturbations are small in the Euclidean and integral topology, respectively. The variation formulas of solutions of a differential equation with discontinuous and continuous initial condition are deduced; as compared with those known earlier, these formulas take into account the variation of the initial instant and the discontinuity and continuity of the initial data. A necessary condition for criticality of mappings defined on a finitely locally convex set is obtained. The quasiconvexity of filters in studying optimal problems with delays in controls is proved. Necessary optimality conditions and existence theorems are proved for optimal problems with variable delays in phase coordinates and controls having a nonfixed initial instant, a discontinuous and a continuous initial condition, and functional and boundary conditions of general form. Necessary optimality conditions are obtained for optimal problems with variable structure and delays. __________ Translated from Sovremennaya Matematika i Ee Prilozheniya (Contemporary Mathematics and Its Applications), Vol. 25, Optimal Control, 2005.     

Numerical solutions for optimal control of stochastic Kolmogorov systems with regime-switching and random jumps

Statistical Inference for Stochastic Processes - This work is devoted to numerical solutions of controlled stochastic Kolmogorov systems with regime switching and random jumps. Markov chain...     

Numerical methods for singular optimal control

Methods are described for the numerical solution of singular optimal control problems. A simple method is given for solving a class of problems which form a transition from nonsingular to singular cases. A procedure is given for determining the structure of a singular problem if it is initially unknown. Several numerical examples are presented.This work is based on the author's PhD Dissertation at The Hatfield Polytechnic, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England.     

Existence of finitely optimal solutions for infinite-horizon optimal control problems

In this paper, we investigate the existence of finitely optimal solutions for the Lagrange problem of optimal control defined on [0, ) under weaker convexity and seminormality hypotheses than those of previous authors. The notion of finite optimality has been introduced into the literature as the weakest of a hierarchy of types of optimality that have been defined to permit the study of Lagrange problems, arising in mathematical economics, whose cost functions either diverge or are not bounded below. Our method of proof requires us to analyze the continuous dependence of finite-interval Lagrange problems with respect to a prescribed terminal condition. Once this is done, we show that a finitely optimal solution can be obtained as the limit of a sequence of solutions to a sequence of corresponding finite-horizon optimal control problems. Our results utilize the convexity and seminormality hypotheses which are now classical in the existence theory of optimal control.This research forms part of the author's doctoral dissertation written at the University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware under the supervision of Professor Thomas S. Angell.     

Numerical verification of solutions for nonlinear hyperbolic equations

We consider a numerical method to verify the solutions for nonlinear hyperbolic problems with guaranteed error bounds in the one-space dimensional case. We present verification procedures and show some numerical examples.     

Existence of solutions and optimal control for reflecting stochastic differential equations with applications to population control theory *

For the d–dimensional reflecting stochastic differential equations (1) with non-smooth boundary and unbounded domain the existence of a strong solution, (weak solution) is obtained under the conditions that the coefficients are less than linear growth and they are non-Lipschitz, (and the diffusion coefficient is non-degenerate, the drift coefficient is bounded and measurable only). Moreover, the Girsanov theorem and the martingale representation theorem with respect to system (1) are also derived. Then by using the Ekeland lemma and the martingale method the existence, necessary and sufficient conditions for an optimal control and an optimal control are obtained. The results are then applied to solve an optimal control problem for a stochastic population model     

Generalized solutions for singular optimal control problems

This text presents a complete theory of existence/uniqueness and the structure of generalized solutions for singular linear-quadratic optimal control problems. Generalized optimal controls are distributions of order r and the corresponding generalized trajectories are distributions of order (r − 1). r is the “order of singularity” of the problem, an integer no greater than the dimension of the state space. Its value is obtained through a certain reduction procedure. In the final section, some perspectives and partial results concerning the extension of these results to nonlinear problems are briefly discussed. Translated from Sovremennaya Matematika. Fundamental’nye Napravleniya (Contemporary Mathematics. Fundamental Directions), Vol. 27, Optimal Control, 2007.     

Finite difference approximations of optimal control problems for semilinear elliptic equations with discontinuous coefficients and solutions

Mathematical formulation of nonlinear optimal control problems for semilinear elliptic equations with discontinuous coefficients and discontinuous solutions are examined. Finite difference approximations of optimization problems are constructed, and the approximation error is estimated with respect to the state and the cost functional. Weak convergence of the approximations with respect to the control is proved. The approximations are regularized using Tikhonov regularization.     

Numerical solutions of the thermistor equations

This paper examines heat conduction in a thermistor used as a current surge regulator. The problem consists of coupled nonlinear, nonlocal parabolic initial boundary value problems. Simplifying assumptions are made which lead to two different problems each of which consists of a one (space) dimensional nonlocal parabolic initial boundary value problem.Numerical methods for the approximate solutions of both the steady state and the transient problems are described and the results of the numerical experiments are presented.     

Existence of solutions of certain nonconvex optimal control problems governed by nonlinear integral equations

Optimal control problems with nonlinear equations usually do not have a solution, i.e. an optimal control. Nevertheless, if the cost functional is uniformly concave with respect to the state, the solution may exist. Using the Balder's technique based on a Youngmeasure relaxation, Bauer's external principle and investigation of extreme Young measures; the existence is demonstrated here for optimal control processes described by nonlinear integral equations     

Solving an optimal control problem for parabolic equations

We consider optimal boundary control of a distributed-parameter system. The system state is described by two parabolic equations of second order, where the coefficients of one equation depend on the gradient of the solution of the second equation. An existence and uniqueness theorem is proved for the optimal control in this problem and the necessary conditions of optimality are derived.Translated from Vychislitel'naya i Prikladnaya Matematika, No. 59, pp. 90–98, 1986.     

Periodic optimal control for parabolic Volterra-Lotka type equations

This paper considers the optimal harvesting control of a biological species, whose growth is governed by the parabolic diffusive Volterra-Lotka equation. We prove that such equation with L^∞ periodic coefficients has an unique positive periodic solution. We show the existence and uniqueness of an optimal control, and under certain conditions, we characterize the optimal control in terms of a parabolic optimality system. A monotone sequence which converges to the optimal control is constructed.     

Stepanov-like pseudo almost periodic solutions for impulsive perturbed partial stochastic differential equations and its optimal control

This paper is mainly concerned with the Stepanov-like pseudo almost periodicity to a class of impulsive perturbed partial stochastic differential equations. Firstly, we prove the existence of $p$-mean piecewise Stepanov-like pseudo almost periodic mild solutions for the impulsive stochastic dynamical system in a Hilbert space under non-Lipschitz conditions. The results are obtained by using the fixed point techniques with fractional power arguments. Then the existence of optimal pairs of system governed by impulsive partial stochastic differential equations is also obtained. Finally, an example is provided to illustrate the developed theory.     

Numerical approximation of entropy solutions for hyperbolic integro-differential equations

Summary. Scalar hyperbolic integro-differential equations arise as models for e.g. radiating or self-gravitating fluid flow. We present finite volume schemes on unstructured grids applied to the Cauchy problem for such equations. For a rather general class of integral operators we show convergence of the approximate solutions to a possibly discontinuous entropy solution of the problem. For a specific model problem in radiative hydrodynamics we introduce a convergent fully discrete finite volume scheme. Under the assumption of sufficiently fast spatial decay of the entropy solution we can even establish the convergence rate h^1/4|ln(h)| where h denotes the grid parameter. The convergence proofs rely on appropriate variants of the classical Kruzhkov method for local balance laws together with a truncation technique to cope with the nonlocal character of the integral operator.Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 35L65, 35Q35, 65M15