Controllability of impulse controlled systems of heat equations coupled by constant matrices

Abstract: This paper studies the approximate and null controllability for impulse controlled systems of heat equations coupled by a pair (A,B) of constant matrices. We present a necessary and sufficient condition for the approximate controllability, which is exactly Kalman's controllability rank condition of (A,B). We prove that when such a system is approximately controllable, the approximate controllability over an interval [0,T] can be realized by adding controls at arbitrary n different control instants 0<\tau_1<\tau_2<\cdots<\tau_n<T, provided that \tau_n-\tau_1<d_A, where d_A=\min{\pi/|Im \lambda| : \lambda\in \sigma(A)}. We also show that in general, such systems are not null controllable.