Generalized backstepping and Gramian methods for spectral assignability in infinite dimension

Mar 5, 2026·
Ludovick Gagnon
Christophe Zhang
Christophe Zhang
· 0 min read
Abstract
In this article, we explore connections between two stabilization methods: Gramian stabilization and backstepping (and more generally F-equivalence). These methods are related to the problem of spectral assignability (also known as the pole placement or pole shifting problem), which consists in finding a linear feedback such that the resulting closed-loop system has a prescribed spectrum. We provide a constructive solution to the spectral assignability problem for a broad class of infinitedimensional controllable systems and target spectra, with unbounded but admissible control operators. We construct a feedback using a generalization of the backstepping method, and provide an extensive study of the resulting closed-loop operator. We prove that it has a Riesz basis of eigenvectors, which we explicitly describe, along with its biorthonormal basis. This allows us to introduce general Gramian operators, and give an alternative expression of the feedback using these operators.
Type
Publication
HAL preprint
publications
Christophe Zhang
Authors
researcher

I am currently in secondment at Inria Paris, as a researcher in the CAGE team. I work on control, stabilization and optimal control problems in infinite dimension (PDEs and evolution equation), with a particular focus on constrained control.

I have also dabbled in data-driven modelling and control, in particular methods involving the Koopman operator.

More recently, I have taken an interest in reachability analysis. I co-supervised the PhD thesis of Ivan Hasenohr with Camille Pouchol and Yannick Privat, during which we developed computer-assisted proofs of reachability and non-reachability.