English

Weak Observability Characterization for Abstract Wave Equations

Optimization and Control 2026-07-13 v1 Analysis of PDEs

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the weak observability of second-order infinite-dimensional evolution systems generated by skew-adjoint operators of the form iA0iA_0, where A0A_0 is a self-adjoint elliptic operator. We first establish a spectral characterization of weak observability by introducing the notion of spectral coercivity for the observation operator and proving its equivalence to a suitable resolvent estimate. Our main result reveals a direct link between resolvent estimates for the elliptic operator A0A_0 and the weak observability of the associated evolution generator AA. More precisely, we prove that a resolvent inequality for A0A_0 implies a Hautus-type spectral observability estimate for AA, which guarantees the weak observability of the system. This provides a unified spectral framework for weak observability based on the coercivity properties of the observation operator. As an application, we establish explicit weak observability estimates for the wave equation on a rectangular domain under several geometric configurations of the observation region. The analysis combines frequency-domain methods, resolvent estimates, and Fourier analysis, yielding new insights into the interplay between resolvent inequalities, spectral coercivity, and weak observability in infinite-dimensional systems.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.11202,
  title  = {Weak Observability Characterization for Abstract Wave Equations},
  author = {Nisrine Charaf and Faouzi Triki},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.11202},
  year   = {2026}
}