The book is devoted to the study of distributed control problems governed by various nonsmooth state systems. The main questions investigated include: existence of optimal pairs, first order optimality conditions, state-constrained systems, approximation and discretization, bang-bang and regularity properties for optimal control. In order to give the reader a better overview of the domain, several sections deal with topics that do not enter directly into the announced subject: boundary control, delay differential equations. In a subject still actively developing, the methods can be more important than the results and these include: adapted penalization techniques, the singular control systems approach, the variational inequality method, the Ekeland variational principle. Some prerequisites relating to convex analysis, nonlinear operators and partial differential equations are collected in the first chapter or are supplied appropriately in the text. The monograph is intended for graduate students and for researchers interested in this area of mathematics.

The report is a survey of theoretical and computational methods in the field of optimal control of distributed parameter systems. This includes systems described by integral equations and partial differential equations. The various studies which have been done are grouped according to the method employed. A number of applications and potential applications of these methods are discussed, and certain deficiencies in the current state of knowledge are noted. Difficulties and opportunities in practical applications are discussed, and suggestions are offered for directions of research to render the results more readily usable. A list of references is included numbering more than 250 items: papers, report, and books.

An examination of progress in mathematical control theory applications. It provides analyses of the influence and relationship of nonlinear partial differential equations to control systems and contains state-of-the-art reviews, including presentations from a conference co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Mathematics a

Discusses a number of the more interesting areas in the application of the theory of Optimal Control of distributed parameters.

This book represents an extended and substantially revised version of my earlierbook, Optimal Control in Problems ofMathematical Physics,originally published in Russian in 1975. About 60% of the text has been completely revised and major additions have been included which have produced a practically new text. My aim was to modernize the presentation but also to preserve the original results, some of which are little known to a Western reader. The idea of composites, which is the core of the modern theory of optimization, was initiated in the early seventies. The reader will find here its implementation in the problem of optimal conductivity distribution in an MHD-generatorchannel flow.Sincethen it has emergedinto an extensive theory which is undergoing a continuous development. The book does not pretend to be a textbook, neither does it offer a systematic presentation of the theory. Rather, it reflects a concept which I consider as fundamental in the modern approach to optimization of dis tributed systems. Bibliographical notes,though extensive, do not pretend to be exhaustive as well. My thanks are due to ProfessorJean-Louis Armand and ProfessorWolf Stadler whose friendly assistance in translating and polishing the text was so valuable. I am indebted to Mrs. Kathleen Durand and Mrs. Colleen Lewis for the hard job of typing large portions of the manuscript.