Null controllability of some degenerate wave equations

Abstract: This paper is devoted to a study of the null controllability problems for one-dimensional linear degenerate wave equations through a boundary controller. First, the well-posedness of linear degenerate wave equations is discussed. Then the null controllability of some degenerate wave equations is established, when a control acts on the non-degenerate boundary. Different from the known controllability results in the case that a control acts on the degenerate boundary, any initial value in state space is controllable in this case. Also, an explicit expression for the controllability time is given. Furthermore, a counterexample on the controllability is given for some other degenerate wave equations.