Null controllability in large time for the parabolic Grushin operator with singular potential

Abstract

We investigate the null controllability property for the parabolic Grushin equation with an inverse square singular potential. Thanks to a Fourier decomposition for the solution of the equation, we can reduce the problem to the validity of a uniform observability inequality with respect to the Fourier frequency. Such an inequality is obtained by means of a suitable Carleman estimate, with an adapted spatial weight function. We thus show that null controllability holds in large time, as in the case of the Grushin operator without potential.