Hamilton–Jacobi equations for controlled gradient flows

cylindrical test functions

Journal Article (2026)
Author(s)

G. Conforti (Università degli Studi di Padova)

R. C. Kraaij (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)

D. Tonon (Università degli Studi di Padova)

Research Group
Applied Probability
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfa.2026.111388 Final published version
More Info
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Publication Year
2026
Language
English
Research Group
Applied Probability
Journal title
Journal of Functional Analysis
Issue number
10
Volume number
290
Article number
111388
Downloads counter
21
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Abstract

This work is the second part of a program initiated in [13] aiming at the development of an intrinsic geometric well-posedness theory for Hamilton-Jacobi equations related to controlled gradient flow problems in metric spaces. Our main contribution is that of showing that the comparison principle proven therein implies a comparison principle for viscosity solutions relative to smoother Hamiltonians, acting on test functions that are mere cylindrical functions of the underlying squared metric distance and whose rigorous definition is achieved from the Evolutional Variational Inequality formulation of gradient flows (EVI). In particular, the new Hamiltonians no longer require to work with test functions containing Tataru's distance. This substantial simplification paves the way for the development of a comprehensive existence theory.