preprint

Inserted: 24 jun 2026
Last Updated: 24 jun 2026

Year: 2026

Abstract:

We develop a detailed analysis of optimal traveling waves $U(t,x) = U(x - βt)$ for a model of invasive-species control proposed in {Bressan, Chiri, and Salehi, Math. Models Methods Appl. Sci., 2022} : the relative density $U \in [0,1]$ of the invasive species satisfies the following reaction-diffusion equation with a positive control \[ U_t = U_{xx} + f(U) - \tilde α(t,x) U, \quad U \in [0,1], \ \tilde α\geq 0. \] The control $\tilde α(t,x)$ represents the fraction of the population removed at $(t,x)$: the minimal control effort $E(β,f)$ required to sustain a traveling invasion front with prescribed speed $β$ is defined as the minimal $L^1$-norm of $\tilde α$ for a traveling wave solution $U(x-βt)$ to the PDE. In order to study large scale dynamics $(t,x) \mapsto (εt,εx)$, a fundamental role is played by the structure of traveling waves and the convexity and regularity properties of $E$.
The main results of this paper are the following:
1) In the phase plane $(U,P=U_x)$, there exists a unique optimal profile $P_β(U)$ minimizing the effort;
2) It satisfies explicit first-order conditions, which are both necessary and sufficient;
3) The associated control is acting on an open subset of the set $\{U : P_β(U) = \sqrt{U f(U)}\}$, in particular it is uniformly integrable, and it depends smoothly on $(β,f)$ on a dense open set;
4) The effort function $E(β,f)$ is only $C^1$ w.r.t. $β$ and Lipschitz w.r.t. $f$ in the $C^2$-topology, and is asymptocally linear for $β\to \infty$;
5) $β\mapsto E(β,f)$ is in general neither convex nor subadditive.