arXiv subjects

Christophe Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Christophe Zhang.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Quantitative Fredholm backstepping and rapid stabilization

In this paper, we address the existence of Fredholm backstepping transformations for self-adjoint and skew-adjoint operators $A$. Under suitable assumptions on the operator $A$ and the possibly unbounded control operator $B$, we prove the existence of a Fredholm backstepping transformation for operators of order strictly greater than $1$. This work overcomes two major limitations of the classical Fredholm backstepping framework. One of the main contributions is the explicit identification of the underlying isomorphism used in the construction of the transformation $T$, thereby bypassing the compactness arguments and Riesz basis mechanisms traditionally used in the literature. This explicit structure enables us to derive quantitative and sharp estimates for $\|T\|_{\mathcal{L}(H;H)}$ and $\|T^{-1}\|_{\mathcal{L}(H;H)}$ with respect to the decay rate $\lambda$. As a consequence, we obtain quantitative rapid stabilization and small-time null controllability results for a broad class of operators.

math.OC↗

arXiv2026

Generalisation of Farkas' lemma beyond closedness: a constructive approach via Fenchel-Rockafellar duality

Farkas' lemma is an ubiquitous tool in optimisation, as it provides necessary and sufficient conditions to have $b \in A(P)$, where $P$ is a closed convex cone, $A$ is a (continuous) linear mapping and $b$ is a fixed vector. The standard underlying hypothesis is the closedness of $A(P)$, which is not always satisfied and can be difficult to check. We devise a new method to generalise Farkas' lemma, based on a primal-dual pair of optimisation problems and Fenchel-Rockafellar duality theory. We work under the sole hypothesis that $P$ be generated by a closed bounded convex set. This hypothesis is weaker than in previous generalisations of Farkas' lemma, which almost all require that $A(P)$ be closed, or, in few cases, that only $P$ be closed. In our case, $P$ (and a fortiori $A(P)$) is not necessarily closed; we uncover necessary and sufficient conditions both for $b \in A(P)$ and $b \in \overline{A(P)}$. For a given $\e \geq 0$, we exhibit constructive characterisations of $x \in P$ such that $\|Ax-b\| \leq \e$ when it exists, by means of optimality conditions. For $\e = 0$, these strongly rely on whether the dual problem admits a solution, and we discuss conditions under which it does. Finally, we also explain how, upon relaxation, we may apply our method to a nonconvex cone.

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arXiv2024

Constructive reachability for linear control problems under conic constraints

Motivated by applications requiring sparse or nonnegative controls, we investigate reachability properties of linear infinite-dimensional control problems under conic constraints. Relaxing the problem to convex constraints if the initial cone is not already convex, we provide a constructive approach based on minimising a properly defined dual functional, which covers both the approximate and exact reachability problems. Our main results heavily rely on convex analysis, Fenchel duality and the Fenchel-Rockafellar theorem. As a byproduct, we uncover new sufficient conditions for approximate and exact reachability under convex conic constraints. We also prove that these conditions are in fact necessary. When the constraints are nonconvex, our method leads to sufficient conditions ensuring that the constructed controls fulfill the original constraints, which is in the flavour of bang-bang type properties. We show that our approach encompasses and generalises several works, and we obtain new results for different types of conic constraints and control systems.

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arXiv2023

Approximate control of parabolic equations with on-off shape controls by Fenchel duality

We consider the internal control of linear parabolic equations through on-off shape controls, i.e., controls of the form $M(t)\chi_{\omega(t)}$ with $M(t) \geq 0$ and $\omega(t)$ with a prescribed maximal measure. We establish small-time approximate controllability towards all possible final states allowed by the comparison principle with nonnegative controls. We manage to build controls with constant amplitude $M(t) \equiv M$. In contrast, if the moving control set $\omega(t)$ is confined to evolve in some region of the whole domain, we prove that approximate controllability fails to hold for small times. The method of proof is constructive. Using Fenchel-Rockafellar duality and the bathtub principle, the on-off shape control is obtained as the bang-bang solution of an optimal control problem, which we design by relaxing the constraints. Our optimal control approach is outlined in a rather general form for linear constrained control problems, paving the way for generalisations and applications to other PDEs and constraints.

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arXiv2022

Docent: A content-based recommendation system to discover contemporary art

Recommendation systems have been widely used in various domains such as music, films, e-shopping etc. After mostly avoiding digitization, the art world has recently reached a technological turning point due to the pandemic, making online sales grow significantly as well as providing quantitative online data about artists and artworks. In this work, we present a content-based recommendation system on contemporary art relying on images of artworks and contextual metadata of artists. We gathered and annotated artworks with advanced and art-specific information to create a completely unique database that was used to train our models. With this information, we built a proximity graph between artworks. Similarly, we used NLP techniques to characterize the practices of the artists and we extracted information from exhibitions and other event history to create a proximity graph between artists. The power of graph analysis enables us to provide an artwork recommendation system based on a combination of visual and contextual information from artworks and artists. After an assessment by a team of art specialists, we get an average final rating of 75% of meaningful artworks when compared to their professional evaluations.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2022

Fredholm backstepping for critical operators and application to rapid stabilization for the linearized water waves

Fredholm-type backstepping transformation, introduced by Coron and L\"u, has become a powerful tool for rapid stabilization with fast development over the last decade. Its strength lies in its systematic approach, allowing to deduce rapid stabilization from approximate controllability. But limitations with the current approach exist for operators of the form $|D_x|^\alpha$ for $\alpha \in (1,3/2]$. We present here a new compactness/duality method which hinges on Fredholm's alternative to overcome the $\alpha=3/2$ threshold. More precisely, the compactness/duality method allows to prove the existence of a Riesz basis for the backstepping transformation for skew-adjoint operator verifying $\alpha>1$, a key step in the construction of the Fredholm backstepping transformation, where the usual methods only work for $\alpha>3/2$. The illustration of this new method is shown on the rapid stabilization of the linearized capillary-gravity water wave equation exhibiting an operator of critical order $\alpha=3/2$.

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arXiv2021

Fredholm transformation on Laplacian and rapid stabilization for the heat equation

We study the rapid stabilization of the heat equation on the 1-dimensional torus using the backstepping method with a Fredholm transformation. We prove that, under some assumption on the control operator, two scalar controls are necessary and sufficient to get controllability and rapid stabilization. This classical framework allows us to present the backstepping method with Fredholm transformations on Laplace operators in a sharp functional setting, which is the main objective of this work. Finally, we prove that the same Fredholm transformation also leads to the local rapid stability of the viscous Burgers equation.

math.AP↗

arXiv2021

Stabilization of the linearized water tank system

In this article we study the so-called water tank system. In this system, the behavior of water contained in a 1-D tank is modelled by Saint-Venant equations, with a scalar distributed control. It is well-known that the linearized systems around uniform steady-states are not controllable, the uncontrollable part being of infinite dimension. Here we will focus on the linearized systems around non-uniform steady states, corresponding to a constant acceleration of the tank. We prove that these systems are controllable in Sobolev spaces, using the moments method and perturbative spectral estimates. Then, for steady states corresponding to small enough accelerations, we design an explicit Proportional Integral feedback law (obtained thanks to a well-chosen dynamic extension of the system) that stabilizes these systems exponentially with arbitrarily large decay rate. Our design relies on feedback equivalence/backstepping.

math.AP↗

arXiv2019

Internal rapid stabilization of a 1-D linear transport equation with a scalar feedback

We use the backstepping method to study the stabilization of a 1-D linear transport equation on the interval (0, L), by controlling the scalar amplitude of a piecewise regular function of the space variable in the source term. We prove that if the system is controllable in a periodic Sobolev space of order greater than 1, then the system can be stabilized exponentially in that space and, for any given decay rate, we give an explicit feedback law that achieves that decay rate.

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arXiv2017

Internal control of systems of semilinear coupled 1-D wave equations

We prove the internal controllability of some systems of two coupled wave equations in one space dimension, with one control, under certain conditions on the coupling. To do this we apply the "fictitious control method" in two cases: general systems with a "non-degenerate" coupling, and a particular case where the coupling is "degenerate", namely a cubic coupling. In the latter case, our proof requires to find nontrivial trajectories of the control system that go from $0$ to $0$. We build these trajectories by adapting (in $1$ space dimension) a construction developed by Jean-Michel Coron, Sergio Guerrero and Lionel Rosier for the study of coupled parabolic systems.

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