Switching properties of time optimal controls for systems of heat equations coupled by constant matrices

Abstract: This paper studies the time optimal control problem for systems of heat equations coupled by a pair of constant matrices. The control constraint is of the ball-type, while the target is the origin of the state space. We obtain an upper bound for the number of switching points of the optimal control over each interval with a fixed length. Also, we prove that at each switching point, the optimal control jump from one direction to the reverse direction.