arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Anna Chiara Lai.
We establish some results on the structure of the spectrum of $m$-bonacci numbers. More precisely, we study explicit lower bounds for the distance between elements separated by $N$ positions in the ordered spectrum. The result is further detailed in the Fibonacci and Tribonacci case. The methodology combines the combinatorial structure of $m$-bonacci words and the canonical $m$-bonacci number system.
We study the topology and the Hausdorff dimension of a random Cantor set with overlaps, generated by an iterated function system with scaling ratio equal to the Golden Mean. The results extend known formulas to a case where the Open Set Condition fails. Our methodology is based on the theory of expansions in non-integer bases.
Given a nonlinear control system, a target set, a nonnegative integral cost, and a continuous function $W$, we say that the system is globally asymptotically controllable to the target with W-regulated cost, whenever, starting from any point z, among the strategies that achieve classical asymptotic controllability we can select one that also keeps the cost less than W(z). In this paper, assuming mild regularity hypotheses on the data, we prove that a necessary and sufficient condition for global asymptotic controllability with regulated cost is the existence of a special, continuous Control Lyapunov function, called a Minimum Restraint function. The main novelty is the necessity implication, obtained here for the first time. Nevertheless, the sufficiency condition extends previous results based on semiconcavity of the Minimum Restraint function, while we require mere continuity.
We investigate optimal expansions of Kakeya sequences for the representation of real numbers. Expansions of Kakeya sequences generalize the expansions in non-integer bases and they display analogous redundancy phenomena. In this paper, we characterize optimal expansions of Kakeya sequences, and we provide conditions for the existence of unique expansions with respect to Kakeya sequences.
In this paper, we extend well-known relationships between global asymptotic controllability, sample stabilizability, and the existence of a control Lyapunov function to a wide class of control systems with unbounded controls, which includes control-polynomial systems. In particular, we consider open loop controls and discontinuous stabilizing feedbacks, which may be unbounded approaching the target, so that the corresponding trajectories may present a chattering behavior. A key point of our results is to prove that global asymptotic controllability, sample stabilizability, and existence of a control Lyapunov function for these systems or for an {\em impulsive extension} of them are equivalent.
We investigate a susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) epidemic model based on the Caputo-Fabrizio operator. After performing an asymptotic analysis of the system, we study a related finite horizon optimal control problem with state constraints. We prove that the corresponding value function is a viscosity solution of a dynamic programming equation. We then turn to the asymptotic behavior of the value function, proving its convergence to the solution of a stationary problem, as the planning horizon tends to infinity. Finally, we present some numerical simulations providing a qualitative description of the optimal dynamics and the value functions involved.
We study epidemic Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible models in the fractional setting. The novelty is to consider models in which the susceptible and infected populations evolve according to different fractional orders. We study a model based on Caputo derivative, for which we establish existence results of the solutions. Also, we investigate a model based on Caputo-Fabrizio operator, for which we provide existence of solutions and a study of the equilibria. Numerical simulations for both models and a direct numerical comparison are also provided.
We present a general series representation formula for the local solution of Bernoulli equation with Caputo fractional derivatives. We then focus on a generalization of the fractional logistic equation and we present some related numerical simulations.
We address an optimal reachability problem for a planar manipulator in a constrained environment. After introducing the optmization problem in full generality, we practically embed the geometry of the workspace in the problem, by considering some classes of obstacles. To this end, we present an analytical approximation of the distance function from the ellipse. We then apply our method to particular models of hyper-redundant and soft manipulators, by also presenting some numerical experiments.
We consider a class of generalized binomials emerging in fractional calculus. After establishing some general properties, we focus on a particular yet relevant case, for which we provide several ready-for-use combinatorial identities, including an adapted version of the Pascal's rule. We then investigate the associated generating functions, for which we establish a recursive, combinatorial and integral formulation. From this, we derive an asymptotic version of the Binomial Theorem. A combinatorial and asymptotic analysis of some finite sums completes the paper.
We extend the classical concepts of sampling and Euler solutions for control systems associated to discontinuous feedbacks by considering also the corresponding costs. In particular, we introduce the notions of Sample and Euler stabilizability to a closed target set (p0,W)-regulated cost, for some continuous, state-dependent function W and some positive constant p0: it roughly means that we require the existence of a stabilizing feedback K such that all the corresponding sampling and Euler solutions starting from a point z have suitably defined finite costs, bounded above by W(z)/p0. Then, we show how the existence of a special, semiconcave Control Lyapunov Function W, called p0-Minimum Restraint Function, allows us to construct explicitly such a feedback K. When dynamics and Lagrangian are Lipschitz continuous in the state variable, we prove that K as above can be still obtained if there exists a p0-Minimum Restraint Function which is merely Lipschitz continuous. An example on the stabilizability with (p0,W)-regulated cost of the nonholonomic integrator control system associated to any cost with bounded Lagrangian illustrates the results.
We investigate optimal reachability and grasping problems for a planar soft manipulator, from both a theoretical and numerical point of view. The underlying control model describes the evolution of the symmetry axis of the device, which is subject to inextensibility and curvature constraints, a bending moment and a curvature control. Optimal control strategies are characterized with tools coming from the optimal control theory of PDEs. We run some numerical tests in order to validate the model and to synthetize optimal control strategies.
We investigate the internal observability of the wave equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions in tilings. The paper includes a general result relating internal observability problems in general domains to their tiles, and a discussion of the case in which the domain is the 30-60-90 triangle.
We present a control model for an octopus tentacle, based on the dynamics of an inextensible string with curvature constraints and curvature controls. We derive the equations of motion together with an appropriate set of boundary conditions, and we characterize the corresponding equilibria. The model results in a system of fourth-order evolutive nonlinear controlled PDEs, generalizing the classic Euler's dynamic elastica equation, that we approximate and solve numerically introducing a consistent finite difference scheme. We proceed investigating a reachability optimal control problem associated to our tentacle model. We first focus on the stationary case, by establishing a relation with the celebrated Dubins' car problem. Moreover, we propose an augmented Lagrangian method for its numerical solution. Finally, we address the evolutive case obtaining first order optimality conditions, then we numerically solve the optimality system by means of an adjoint-based gradient descent method.
We investigate the internal observability of the wave equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions in a triangular domain. More precisely, the domain taken into exam is the half of the equilateral triangle. Our approach is based on Fourier analysis and on tessellation theory: by means of a suitable tiling of the rectangle, we extend earlier observability results in the rectangle to the case of a triangular domain. The paper includes a general result relating problems in general domains to their tiles, and a discussion of the triangular case. As an application, we provide an estimation of the observation time when the observed domain is composed by three strips with a common side to the edges of the triangle.
Let a control system and a target be given on an open subset of an Euclidean space. The existence of a Control Lyapunov Function - namely a positive definite, semiconcave, solution of the Hamilton-Jacobi inequality corresponding to the control vector field -- guarantees Global Asymptotic Controllability (GAC). In this case, however, minimization is not an issue. Instead, if a Lagrangean with non-negative values is considered as well, an optimal control problem can be defined in relation to the corresponding integral functional. In the first part of the present paper we show that the existence of a Minimum Restraint Function -- a solution of a strict Hamilton-Jacobi inequality involving the Lagrangian and a non-negative "savings multiplier" -- provides not only global asymptotic controllability but also savings, namely a state-dependent upper bound for the infima. This extends a former result, where the control set was assumed to be compact. Here we allow unbounded controls and replace inputs' values' compactness with a quite mild hypothesis concerning the dependence of the data on inputs: such condition is met, for instance, by control vector fields that are compositions of Lipschitz maps with polynomials and exponentials of the control variable. In the second part of the paper we focus on the case when the dynamics is a polynomial in the control variable. Through some analysis of convexity properties of vector-valued polynomials' ranges, we prove some simplified versions of the main result, in terms of either affine representability or reduction to weak subsystems for the original dynamics.
A classical theorem of Ingham extended Parseval's formula of the trigonometrical system to arbitrary families of exponentials satisfying a uniform gap condition. Later his result was extended to several dimensions, but the optimal integration domains have only been determined in very few cases. The purpose of this paper is to determine the optimal connected integration domains for all regular two-dimensional lattices.
We present a class of maximally entangled states generated by a high-dimensional generalisation of the \textsc{cnot} gate. The advantage of our approach is the simple algebraic structure of both entangling operator and resulting entangled states. In order to show that the method can be applied to any dimension, we introduce new sufficient conditions for global and maximal entanglement with respect to Meyer and Wallach's measure.