Identification of a source factor in a control problem for the heat equation with a boundary memory term

We consider a material with thermal memory occupying a bounded region Ω with boundary Γ. The evolution of the temperature u(t,x) is described by an integrodifferential parabolic equation containing a heat source of the form f(t)z₀(x). We formulate an initial and boundary value control problem based on a feedback device located on Γ and prescribed by means of a quite general memory operator. Assuming both u and the source factor f are unknown, we study the corresponding inverse and control problem on account of an additional information. We prove a result of existence and uniqueness of the solution (u,f). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.