# Controllability under positivity constraints of semilinear heat equations

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.07678 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.07678/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 21 Nov 2017.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Turnpike in optimal control of PDEs, ResNets, and beyond](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.04097/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In many practical applications of control theory some constraints on the state and/or on the control need to be imposed. In this paper, we prove controllability results for semilinear parabolic equations under positivity constraints on the control, when the time horizon is long enough. As we shall see, in fact, the minimal controllability time turns out to be strictly positive. More precisely, we prove a global steady state constrained controllability result for a semilinear parabolic equation with C1 nonlinearity, without sign or globally Lipschitz assumptions on the nonlinear term. Then, under suitable dissipativity assumptions on the system, we extend the result to any initial datum and any target trajectory. We conclude with some numerical simulations that confirm the theoretical results that provide further information of the sparse structure of constrained controls in minimal time.