Backward uniqueness of the s.c. semigroup arising in parabolic-hyperbolic fluid-structure interaction

A 2-d or 3-d fluid-structure interaction model in its linear form is considered, for which semigroup well-posedness (with explicit generator) was recently established in G. Avalos, R. Triggiani, The coupled PDE-system arising in fluid-structure interaction. Part I: Explicit semigroup generator and its spectral properties, in: Fluids and Waves, in: Contemp. Math., vol. 440, Amer. Math. Soc., 2007, pp. 15-55; G. Avalos, R. Triggiani, The coupled PDE-system arising in fluid-structure interaction. Part II: Uniform stabilization with boundary dissipation at the interface, Discrete Contin. Dyn. Syst., in press]. This is a system which couples at the interface the linear version of the Navier-Stokes equations with the equations of linear elasticity (wave-like). In this paper, we establish a backward uniqueness theorem for such a parabolic-hyperbolic coupled PDE system. If {eAt}_t?0 is the (contraction) s.c. semigroup describing its evolution on the finite energy space H, then eATy₀=0 for some T>0 and y₀∈H, implies y₀=0. This property has implications in establishing unique continuation and controllability properties, as in the case of thermoelastic equations M. Eller, I. Lasiecka, R. Triggiani, Simultaneous exact/approximate boundary controllability of thermoelastic plates with variable coefficient, in: Marcel Dekker Lect. Notes Pure Appl. Math., vol. 216, February 2001, pp. 109-230, invited paper for the special volume entitled Shape Optimization and Optimal Designs, J. Cagnol, J.P. Zolesio (Eds). (Preliminary version is in invited paper in: A.V. Balakrishnan (Ed.), Semigroup of Operators and Applications, Birkhäuser, 2000, pp. 335-351.); M. Eller, I. Lasiecka, R. Triggiani, Simultaneous exact/approximate boundary controllability of thermoelastic plates with variable thermal coefficient and moment control, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 251 (2000) 452-478; M. Eller, I. Lasiecka, R. Triggiani, Simultaneous exact/approximate boundary controllability of thermoelastic plates with variable thermal coefficient and clamped controls, Discrete Contin. Dyn. Syst. 7 (2) (2001) 283-301].