Existence theorems for optimal control problems involving functional differential equations

This paper extends some existence theorems of Cesari for optimal control problems to systems whose dynamics is described by functional differential equations of finitely-retarded type. We show that the proper choice of state space is the spaceE¹×C[–, 0], where >0 represents the time-lag of the system, and that it is necessary to choose initial conditions from a compact set inC[–, 0] as well as to employ the usual growth condition.This research was accomplished in the frame of research project AFOSR-942-65 at the University of Michigan. In particular, the author would like to thank Professor L. Cesari (University of Michigan) and Professor N. Chafee (Brown University) for many helpful remarks during the preparation of the research, which forms part of the author's doctoral dissertation written at the University of Michigan.