Optimal control of fractional diffusion equation

AbstractIn this paper we apply the classical control theory to a fractional diffusion equation in a bounded domain. The fractional time derivative is considered in a Riemann–Liouville sense. We first study the existence and the uniqueness of the solution of the fractional diffusion equation in a Hilbert space. Then we show that the considered optimal control problem has a unique solution. Interpreting the Euler–Lagrange first order optimality condition with an adjoint problem defined by means of right fractional Caputo derivative, we obtain an optimality system for the optimal control