Controllability of a 4 × 4 quadratic reaction–diffusion system

Abstract

We consider a 4×4 nonlinear reaction–diffusion system posed on a smooth domain Ω of RN (N≥1) with controls localized in some arbitrary nonempty open subset ω of the domain Ω. This system is a model for the evolution of concentrations in reversible chemical reactions. We prove the local exact controllability to stationary constant solutions of the underlying reaction–diffusion system for every N≥1 in any time T>0. A specificity of this control system is the existence of some invariant quantities in the nonlinear dynamics. The proof is based on a linearization which uses return method and an adequate change of variables that creates cross diffusion which will be used as coupling terms of second order. The controllability properties of the linearized system are deduced from Carleman estimates. A Kakutani's fixed-point argument enables to go back to the nonlinear parabolic system. Then, we prove a global controllability result in large time for 1≤N≤2 thanks to our local controllability result together with a known theorem on the asymptotics of the free nonlinear reaction–diffusion system.