Structure-Preserving Optimal Control of Maxwell's Equations with Applications to Source Cloaking

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Antil, Harbir, Owusu-Agyemang, Yaw, Khandelwal, Rohit, Adriazola, Jimmie, Ridzal, Denis
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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_version_ 1866915971722117120
author Antil, Harbir
Owusu-Agyemang, Yaw
Khandelwal, Rohit
Adriazola, Jimmie
Ridzal, Denis
author_facet Antil, Harbir
Owusu-Agyemang, Yaw
Khandelwal, Rohit
Adriazola, Jimmie
Ridzal, Denis
contents We develop a structure-preserving solution framework for the optimal control of the time-dependent Maxwell's equations. Building on a well-posedness theory for a weak form of the forward problem, we first analyze a forward solver that couples Nédélec and Raviart--Thomas finite elements with Crank--Nicolson time stepping. The solver preserves the de~Rham structure, enforces a discrete Gauss law, exactly satisfies a per-time-step energy balance, and converges to the weak solution under low regularity assumptions on the problem data, which are dictated by the optimal control setting. To control the Maxwell system, we add the curl of a space-time current density as a source to Ampére's law. The curl form yields charge conservation without auxiliary constraints. We prove the well-posedness and continuity of the control-to-state map, derive the adjoint system and a gradient representation for a tracking-type objective functional, and formulate a discrete optimization scheme that inherits structure preservation from the forward solver. Our discrete stationarity conditions are consistent with their continuous counterparts, and the discrete optimal controls converge, with mesh and time refinements, to the continuous optima. We demonstrate the merits of our optimal control formulation and the theoretical developments by numerically solving a series of source-cloaking model problems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_00212
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Structure-Preserving Optimal Control of Maxwell's Equations with Applications to Source Cloaking
Antil, Harbir
Owusu-Agyemang, Yaw
Khandelwal, Rohit
Adriazola, Jimmie
Ridzal, Denis
Optimization and Control
Numerical Analysis
Analysis of PDEs
Computational Physics
We develop a structure-preserving solution framework for the optimal control of the time-dependent Maxwell's equations. Building on a well-posedness theory for a weak form of the forward problem, we first analyze a forward solver that couples Nédélec and Raviart--Thomas finite elements with Crank--Nicolson time stepping. The solver preserves the de~Rham structure, enforces a discrete Gauss law, exactly satisfies a per-time-step energy balance, and converges to the weak solution under low regularity assumptions on the problem data, which are dictated by the optimal control setting. To control the Maxwell system, we add the curl of a space-time current density as a source to Ampére's law. The curl form yields charge conservation without auxiliary constraints. We prove the well-posedness and continuity of the control-to-state map, derive the adjoint system and a gradient representation for a tracking-type objective functional, and formulate a discrete optimization scheme that inherits structure preservation from the forward solver. Our discrete stationarity conditions are consistent with their continuous counterparts, and the discrete optimal controls converge, with mesh and time refinements, to the continuous optima. We demonstrate the merits of our optimal control formulation and the theoretical developments by numerically solving a series of source-cloaking model problems.
title Structure-Preserving Optimal Control of Maxwell's Equations with Applications to Source Cloaking
topic Optimization and Control
Numerical Analysis
Analysis of PDEs
Computational Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.00212