Optimal Control and Controllability of a Phase Field System with One Control Force

We investigate the relation between optimal control and controllability for a phase field system modeling the solidification process of pure materials in the case that only one control force is used. Such system is constituted of one energy balance equation, with a localized control associated to the density of heat sources and sinks to be determined, coupled with a phase field equation with the classical nonlinearity derived from the two-well potential. We prove that this system has a local controllability property and we establish that a sequence of solutions of certain optimal control problems converges to a solution of such controllability problem.