Optimal control of the bidomain system (III): Existence of minimizers and first-order optimality conditions

Abstract

We consider optimal control problems for the bidomain equations of cardiac electrophysiology together with two-variable ionic models, e.g. the Rogers–McCulloch model. After ensuring the existence of global minimizers, we provide a rigorous proof for the system of first-order necessary optimality conditions. The proof is based on a stability estimate for the primal equations and an existence theorem for weak solutions of the adjoint system.