Singular boundary characteristics of the Hamilton–Jacobi equation

Abstract

Situations exist in boundary value problems for first order partial differential equations arising in physics (the Hamilton–Jacobi equation), optimal control theory (the Bellman equation) and the theory of differential games (the Isaacs equation) when the value of the required function is not given on a part of the boundary or not at all, or it is not the limit of the (generalized) solution of the problem. Nevertheless, such conditions are required for constructing the solution (by the method of characteristics, for example). It is shown that the required boundary values can be exposed as a specific continuation of the conditions that are known in the boundary submanifolds of the given part of the boundary. This extension of the conditions is accomplished using the characteristic curves starting in a known submanifold of the boundary and running along the boundary. The characteristics are a generalization of the classical characteristics associated with a partial differential equation. They are called singular characteristics, and the theory of these has been developed in a number of the author's papers. After obtaining these “natural” boundary conditions, the solution is constructed using the conventional method of integrating the equations of the classical characteristics. Conditions of the Dirichlet and Neumann type are considered. The technique is illustrated using a numerical example from the theory of differential games containing a number of parameters.