DOI:10.1051/cocv/2014014 www.esaim-cocv.org
H ¨ OLDER EQUIVALENCE OF THE VALUE FUNCTION FOR CONTROL-AFFINE SYSTEMS
∗Dario Prandi
1,2,3Abstract. We prove the continuity and the H¨older equivalence w.r.t. an Euclidean distance of the value function associated with the L1 cost of the control-affine system ˙q = f0(q) +m
j=1ujfj(q), satisfying the strong H¨ormander condition. This is done by proving a result in the same spirit as the Ball–Box theorem for driftless (or sub-Riemannian) systems. The techniques used are based on a reduction of the control-affine system to a linear but time-dependent one, for which we are able to define a generalization of the nilpotent approximation and through which we derive estimates for the shape of the reachable sets. Finally, we also prove the continuity of the value function associated with the L1 cost of time-dependent systems of the form ˙q=m
j=1ujfjt(q).
Mathematics Subject Classification. 53C17, 93C15.
Received April 24, 2013. Revised November 22, 2013.
Published online August 8, 2014.
1. Introduction
A control-affine system on a smooth manifoldM is a control system in the form
˙
γ(t) =f0(γ(t)) + m i=1
ui(t)fi(γ(t)), a.e.t∈[0, T], (1.1) where u : [0, T] → Rm is an integrable control function and f0, f1, . . . , fm are (not necessarily linearly in- dependent) smooth vector fields. The uncontrolled vector field f0 is called the drift. These kind of systems appear in plenty of applications. As examples we cite: mechanical systems with controls on the acceleration (seee.g., [7,14]), where the drift is the velocity, quantum control (seee.g., [11,17]), where the drift is the free Hamiltonian, or the swimming of microscopic organisms (seee.g., [33]). We always assume the strong H¨ormander
Keywords and phrases. Control-affine systems, time-dependent systems, sub-Riemannian geometry, value function, Ball–Box theorem, nilpotent approximation.
∗ This work was supported by the European Research Council, ERC StG 2009 “GeCoMethods”, Contract No. 239748, by the ANR project GCM, program “Blanche”, Project No. NT09 504490, and by the Laboratoire d’Excellence Archim`ede, Aix- Marseille Universit´e.
1 LSIS, Universit´e de Toulon, 83957 La Garde cedex, France.dario.prandi@univ-tln.fr
2 Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), CMAP, ´Ecole Polytechnique, Route de Saclay, 91128 Palaiseau cedex, France.
3 Team GECO, INRIA-Centre de Recherche Saclay, France.
Article published by EDP Sciences c EDP Sciences, SMAI 2014
condition,i.e., that the iterated Lie brackets of the controlled vector fieldsf1, . . . , fmgenerate the whole tangent space at any point. This guarantees the small time local controllability of system (1.1) and allows us to associate to (1.1) a sub-Riemannian control system. Such assumption is generically satisfied, e.g., by finite-dimensional quantum control systems with two controls, as the ones studied in [12,13,18]. Except when explicitly stated, we do not make any assumption on the dimension of span{f1(q), . . . , fm(q)} which, in particular, can depend on the pointq∈M.
Let the cost of a curveγsolving (1.1) becf0(γ) = minuL1, where the minimum is taken over all the possible u(·) satisfying the above ODE. Due to the presence of the drift, the cost depends on the parametrization of the curve. Through this cost we can define the value function betweenq, q∈M of the control system at time T >0 as
ρfT0(q, q) = inf{cf0(γ) : γ: [0, T]→M solves (1.1),γ(0) =q, γ(T) =q, and T≤T}.
We remark that, thanks to the strong H¨ormander condition, such value function is always finite (seee.g., [29]).
Moreover, sincef1, . . . , fmare not assumed to be linearly independent, system (1.1) could be redundant, in the sense that it could be possible to discard some control vector fields without changing the value function.
The literature on control systems in the form (1.1) is rich. A lot of work has been devoted to develop sufficient conditions for small time local controllability under more general assumptions than the strong H¨ormander condition,e.g., [9,16,36]. Moreover, the regularity of the value function for Lp costs,p >1, or for the minimal- time problem with bounded controls has been deeply studied, e.g., [3,10,15,21,35,37,38]. In particular it is well-known (see [3,38]) that Lp costs with p > 1 give rise to value functions that in general are not even continuous. On the other hand, very little is known for the L1 cost, which is a natural choice when looking at system (1.1) as a perturbation of a sub-Riemannian system (i.e., a driftless control-affine system). In this paper we focus on the regularity of the value functionρfT0(·,·) associated with such cost, proving that it is continuous and, in coordinates, H¨older equivalent to the Euclidean distance from e[0,T]f0(q).
1.1. Sub-Riemannian control systems
When posingf0 = 0 in (1.1) we obtain the sub-Riemannian control system associated with (1.1), i.e., the driftless control system in the form
˙ γ(t) =
m i=1
ui(t)fi(γ(t)), a.e.t∈[0, T], (1.2) such that the following is satisfied.
(SR1) The family of smooth vector fields {f1, . . . , fm} satisfies the H¨ormander condition,i.e., its iterated Lie brackets generate the whole tangent space at any point.
The length of a curveγsolving (1.2), is defined as length(γ) = minuL1. It is a length since, by the linearity of the system w.r.t.u, it is independent of the parametrization ofγ. Finally, we define
dSR(q, q) = inf{length(γ) : γ: [0,1]→M is a solution of (1.2), γ(0) =qandγ(1) =q}.
By the H¨ormander condition, dSR is a distance, called Carnot−Carath´eodory distance, endowing M with a natural metric space structure. A manifold considered together with a sub-Riemannian control system is called a sub-Riemannian manifold.
A fundamental result in the theory of sub-Riemannian manifolds is the celebrated Ball–Box theorem (see for example [8]). This theorem gives a rough description of the infinitesimal shape of the sub-Riemannian balls.
Namely, defineΔ1= span{f1, . . . , fm}andΔs+1=Δs+[Δs, Δ1], for everys∈N. By the H¨ormander condition, for eachq∈Mthere exists a (minimal)r∈Nsuch thatΔr(q) =TqM, which is called thedegree of non-holonomy
of the sub-Riemannian control system atq. Then, the Ball–Box theorem states that the sub-Riemannian ball at a pointq∈M of small radiusε is equivalent, in privileged coordinates, to the box
[−ε, ε]×. . .×[−ε, ε]
dimΔ1(q)
×. . .×[−εs, εs]×. . .×[−εs, εs]
dimΔs(q)−dimΔs−1(q)
×. . .×[−εr, εr]×. . .×[−εr, εr]
dimΔr(q)−dimΔr−1(q)
.
By this we mean that, for some constantC >0, the sub-Riemannian ball is contained in a box of sideCε, and contains a box of sideε/C.
This fact has a plethora of applications. The most important for our purposes is that it allows to prove the H¨older equivalence in coordinates between the sub-Riemannian distance and the Euclidean distance, namely that, forq sufficiently close toq, it holds
|q−q|dSR(q, q)|q−q|1/r. (1.3) Here, we use “” to denote an inequality up to a multiplicative constant, independent of q. Then, among many others, the Ball–Box theorem is a fundamental step in the computation of the Hausdorff dimension of the manifold (see [30]), and it is used to obtain asymptotic estimates on the heat kernel (seee.g., [2,20,28,32]).
Moreover, it is the main tool in computing the asymptotic equivalents of the entropy and the complexity of curves (seee.g., [22,23,25,27,31]).
1.2. Main results
We now state the main result of the paper, a generalization of (1.3) in the context of control-affine systems.
Let us fix a pointq∈M and make the following assumptions.
(D1) The family{f0, f1, . . . , fm}satisfies the strong H¨ormander condition,i.e., the family{f1, . . . , fm}satisfies the H¨ormander condition and thus defines a sub-Riemannian control system.
(D2) The pointqis regular for the integral curve of the drift,i.e., is such that dimΔs(etf0(q)),s∈N, is constant for smallt.
(D3) The point q is regular w.r.t. the drift, in the sense that there exists s ∈ N such that f0(q) ∈ Δs(q)\ Δs−1(q), for anyq nearq.
Assumption (D1) is crucial to be able to exploit the underlying sub-Riemannian system, while (D2) is needed in order for the sub-Riemannian Ball–Box theorem to hold uniformly nearqalong the integral curve of the drift.
Although (D3) seems fairly strong, we remark that it is always satisfied at generic points (i.e., on an open and dense subset ofM).
Theorem 1.1. Let (D1)be satisfied and let q∈M be a point satisfying (D2)and(D3). Let z= (z1, . . . , zn)be a system of privileged coordinates atq for {f1, . . . , fm}, rectifying f0 as the k-th coordinate vector field ∂zk, for some1≤k≤n. Then, for sufficiently smallT andε, if ρfT0(q, q)≤ε, inz coordinates it holds
dist
z(q), z
e[0,T]f0q
ρfT0(q, q) dist
z(q), z
e[0,T]f0q 1/r
.
Here for anyx∈Rn andA⊂Rn,dist(x, A) = infy∈A|x−y|denotes the Euclidean distance between them,etf0 denotes the flow of f0, and r is the degree of non-holonomy of the sub-Riemannian control system defined by {f1, . . . , fm}.
In this result, instead of the Euclidean distance from the origin that appeared in (1.3), we have the distance from the integral curve of the drift. This is due to the fact that moving in this direction has null cost. We remark also that, under (D3), it is always possible to build a system of privileged coordinates rectifying the drift (see Prop.2.6and the discussion before).
As in the sub-Riemannian case, Theorem1.1is a consequence of an estimate on the shape of the reachable sets, contained in Theorem4.3. Moreover, although Theorem1.1 seems a natural generalization of (1.3), the shape of the reachable sets described in Theorem4.3is much more complicated than the boxes of the sub-Riemannian case, yielding a more difficult proof. We remark that it is possible to remove (D2), using the uniform sub- Riemannian estimates contained in [26], but at the cost of an increasead complexity in the description of the reachable sets. Theorems1.1and4.3represent the key step for generalizing the estimates on the complexity of curves from sub-Riemannian control systems to control-affine systems.
It is worth to mention that these results regarding control-affine systems are obtained by reducing them, as in [3], to time-dependent control systems in the form
˙ γ(t) =
m i=1
ui(t)fit(γ(t)), a.e.t∈[0, T], (1.4) wherefit= (e−tf0)∗fi is the pull-back offithrough the flow of the drift. On these systems, that are linear in the control, we are able to define a good notion of approximation of the control vector fields. Namely, in Section3.3 we will define a generalization of the nilpotent approximation, used in the sub-Riemannian context, taking into account the fact that in system (1.4), exploiting the time, we can generate the direction of the brackets between f0and thefjs. This approximation and an iterated integral method yield the correct estimates on the reachable set of system (1.4) contained in Theorem3.9, where we do not need to assume (D2) nor (D3). Adding these assumptions and applying the estimates of Theorem3.9, we then derive Theorem4.3.
1.3. Structure of the paper
The paper is divided in three sections. In Section2we recall some preliminaries on sub-Riemannian control systems, used in the following sections. In Section3we consider control systems in the form (1.4), and we prove the continuity of the value function for general time-dependent vector fields, under the following assumptions.
(T1) The mapt→fitis smooth for 1≤i≤m andt∈I.
(T2) The family of smooth vector fields{f1t, . . . , fmt} satisfies the strong H¨ormander condition,i.e., for any t the family {f1t, . . . , fmt} satisfies the H¨ormander condition.
Then, in Theorem3.9, restricting to the case where the time dependency is explicitly given asfit= (e−tf0)∗fi, we establish some estimates on the reachable sets, in the same spirit as the Ball–Box theorem. Finally, in Section4we consider control-affine systems. Here, after proving the relation between control-affine systems and time-dependent systems, we prove the continuity of the value function. Then, in Lemma 4.5, exploiting the affine nature of the control system, we give an upper bound on the time needed to join two pointsq andq as a function ofρfT0(q, q). From this fact and the estimates of Section3 we finally obtain Theorems1.1and4.3.
2. Preliminaries on sub-Riemannian geometry
Throughout this paper, M is an n-dimensional connected smooth manifold. In this section we recall some classical notions and results of sub-Riemannian geometry.
2.1. Sub-Riemannian control systems
A sub-Riemannian (or non-holonomic) control system onM is a control system in the form
˙ q=
m i=1
uifi(q), q∈M, u= (u1, . . . , um)∈Rm, (SR) where {f1, . . . , fm} is a family of smooth vector fields on M. We let fu = m
i=1uifi. Moreover, as already stated in the introduction, we will assume the following.
(SR1) The family of smooth vector fields {f1, . . . , fm} satisfies the H¨ormander condition, i.e., its iterated Lie brackets generate the whole tangent space at any point.
An absolutely continuous curve γ: [0, T]→M is (SR)-admissible if there exists a controlu∈L1([0, T],Rm) such that ˙γ(t) =fu(t)(γ(t)), for a.e.t∈[0, T]. The curve is said to beassociatedto any such control. The length ofγ is defined as
length(γ) = minuL1([0,T],Rm), (2.1) where the minimum is taken over all controlsusuch thatγis associated withu. It is attained, due to convexity reasons. Notice that, by definition, length(γ) is invariant under time reparametrization of the curve. Thedistance induced by the sub-Riemannian system onM is then defined as
dSR(q, q) = inf{length(γ) : γ(SR)-admissible andγ:qq}, whereγ:qq stands forγ: [0, T]→M, for someT >0,γ(0) =qandγ(T) =q.
LetΔ be the C∞-module generated by the vector fields{f1, . . . , fm} (in particular, it is closed under mul- tiplication by C∞(M) functions and summation). Let Δ1 =Δ, and define recursively Δs+1 =Δs+ [Δs, Δ], for everys ∈ N. Due to the Jacobi identity Δs is the C∞-module of linear combinations of all commutators of f1, . . . , fm with length ≤s. For q ∈M, letΔs(q) = {f(q) : f ∈ Δs} ⊂ TqM. Assumption (SR1), i.e. the H¨ormander condtion, can then be expressed as
s≥1Δs(q) =TqM for anyq∈M.
By the Chow–Rashevsky theorem (see for instance [1]), the hypothesis of connectedness of M and the H¨ormander condition guarantee the finiteness and continuity ofdSR with respect to the topology ofM. Hence, the functiondSR, calledsub-RiemannianorCarnot−Carath´eodory distance, induces onM a metric space struc- ture. The open balls of radiusε >0 and centered at q∈M with respect todSR are denoted byBSR(q, ε).
We say that a (SR)-admissible curveγ is a minimizer of the sub-Riemannian distance between q, q ∈M if γ:qq and length(γ) =dSR(q, q). Equivalently,γ is a minimizer betweenq, q ∈M if it is a solution of the free-time optimal control problem, associated with (SR),
uL1(0,T)= T
0
m
j=1
u2j(t) dt→min, γ(0) =q, γ(T) =q, T >0. (2.2)
Indeed, the sub-Riemannian distance is the value function associated with this problem. It is a classical result that, for any couple of pointsq, q ∈M sufficiently close, there exists at least one minimizer.
Remark 2.1. The optimal control problem (2.2) is equivalent to the following, withp≥1 andT >0 fixed, uLp(0,T)=
T 0
|u|pdt 1/p
→min, γ(0) =q, γ(T) =q. (2.3)
In fact, due to the invariance under time reparametrization of system (SR), in (2.2) we can fix either T > 0 or the Euclidean norm of u. Moreover, by the H¨older inequality, for any p > 1, letting p be the conjugated exponent top(i.e., 1/p+ 1/p = 1), we getuL1(0,T)≤T1/puLp(0,T),with the equality holding if and only if|u|is constant. From these two facts, it is easy to check that minimizers of the optimal control problem (2.3) coincide with the minimizers of (2.2) with constant norm. Thus the two optimal control problems are equivalent.
A similar reasoning allows to show that (2.2) is equivalent to the minimum time optimal control problem with bounded controls,i.e., fixingC >0,
T →min, |u| ≤C, γ(0) =q, γ(T) =q. (2.4)
Remark 2.2. This control theoretical setting can be stated in purely geometric terms. Indeed, it is equivalent to a generalized sub-Riemannian structure. Such a structure is defined by a rank-varying smooth distribution and a Riemannian metric on it (see [1] for a precise definition). In a sub-Riemannian control system, in fact, the map q → span{f1(q), . . . , fm(q)} ⊂ TqM defines a rank-varying smooth distribution, which is naturally endowed with the Riemannian norm defined, forv∈Δ(q), by
g(q, v) = inf
|u|=
u21+· · ·+u2m: fu(q) =v
.
The pair (Δ,g) is thus a generalized sub-Riemannian structure onM. Conversely, every rank-varying distribu- tion is finitely generated, see [1,4,6,19], and thus a sub-Riemannian distance can be written, globally, as the value function of a control system of the type (SR).
2.2. Privileged coordinates and nilpotent approximation
We now introduce the equivalent, in the sub-Riemannian context, of the linearization of a vector field. This classical procedure, callednilpotent approximation, is possible only in carefully chosen sets of coordinates, called privileged coordinates.
Since by (SR1) the family{f1, . . . , fm}satisfies the H¨ormander condition, the values of the setsΔsatqform a flag of subspaces ofTqM,
Δ1(q)⊂Δ2(q)⊂. . .⊂Δr(q) =TqM. (2.5)
The integerr =r(q), which is the minimum number of brackets required to recover the whole TqM, is called degree of non-holonomy (or step) of the family {f1, . . . , fm} at q. Set ns(q) = dimΔs(q). The integer list (n1(q), . . . , nr(q)) is called thegrowth vectoratq. From now on we fixq∈M, and denote byrand (n1, . . . , nr) its degree of non-holonomy and its growth vector, respectively. Finally, let w1 ≤ . . . ≤ wn be the weights associated with the flag, defined bywi=sifns−1< i≤ns, settingn0= 0.
For any smooth vector fieldf, we denote its action, as a derivation on smooth functions, byf :a∈C∞(M)→ f a ∈C∞(M). For any smooth function a and every vector field f with f ≡0 near q, their (non-holonomic) orderat qis
ordq(a) = min{s∈N: ∃i1, . . . , is∈ {1, . . . , m} s.t. (fi1. . . fisa)(q) = 0}, ordq(f) = max{σ∈Z: ordq(f a)≥σ+ ordq(a) for anya∈C∞(M)}.
In particular, it can be proved that ordq(a)≥sif and only if a(q) =O(dSR(q, q))s.
The following proposition clarifies the relationship between non-holonomic orders and the flag (2.5).
Proposition 2.3. Let (SR1)be satisfied,i.e. assume that{f1, . . . , fm}satisfies the H¨ormander condition, and let q∈M and s∈N. Then, for any smooth vector field f it holds that ordqf =−s for anyq near q if and only iff(q)∈Δs(q)\Δs−1(q)for anyq near q.
Remark 2.4. In the previous proposition, the fact that the assumptions hold in a neighborhood ofqis essential.
Indeed, although it is true that ordqf ≥ −s implies f(q) ∈ Δs(q), when the growth vector is not constant aroundqthe contrary is false. To see this, it suffices to consider the sub-Riemannian control system onR2with (privileged) coordinates (x, y), defined by the vector fields∂x andx2∂y. Outside{x= 0}, the non-holonomic degree of these vector fields is−1, while on{x= 0}we need two brackets to generate theydirection and hence the non-holonomic degree of∂y is−3. Then, the vector fieldf(x, y) =∂x+x∂y is such thatf(0,0)∈Δ1(0,0) but ord(0,0)f =−2.
Definition 2.5. Asystem of privileged coordinates at q for{f1, . . . , fm} is a system of local coordinatesz = (z1, . . . , zn) centered atq and such that ordq(zi) =wi, 1≤i≤n.
The family of smooth vector fields{g1, . . . , gn}is an adapted basis atq∈M if span{g1(q), . . . , gns(q)}=Δs(q) for any 1 ≤s ≤ r. (Equivalently: if span{g1(q), . . . , gn(q)} =TqM and gi ∈ Δwi(q) for any 1 ≤ i ≤ n.) By continuity, if{g1, . . . , gn} is an adapted basis atq, it is a basis ofTqM for anyq near q, which in general will not be adapted.
Through an adapted basis atq, it is always possible to define a system of privileged coordinates atq. Namely, for any permutation{i1, . . . , in}of{1, . . . , n}, the inversez= (z1, . . . , zn) of the local diffeomorphism
φ: (z1, . . . , zn)→ezingin◦ · · · ◦ezi1gi1(q),
is a system of privileged coordinates atq, calledcanonical coordinates of the second kind. In particular, in this systemgin is rectified,i.e.,z∗gin ≡∂zin, wherez∗is the push-forward operator on vector fields associated with the coordinates, defined asz∗f =dz◦f ◦z−1. We immediately obtain the following.
Proposition 2.6. Let (SR1) be satisfied,i.e. assume that{f1, . . . , fm}satisfies the H¨ormander condition, and letq∈M andf be a smooth vector field such thatf(q) = 0andf(q)∈Δs(q)\Δs−1(q)for somes∈N. Then, there exists a system of privileged coordinates z = (z1, . . . , zn) at q rectifying f, i.e., such that z∗f ≡ ∂k for some1≤k≤n.
Consider any system of privileged coordinatesz= (z1, . . . , zn). We now show that it allows to compute the order of functions or vector fields in a purely algebraic way. Given a multiindexα= (α1, . . . , αn) we define the weighted degree of the monomial zα= zα11· · ·znαn as w(α) = w1α1+· · ·+wnαn and the weighted degree of the monomial vector fieldzα∂zj asw(α)−wj. Then givena∈C∞(M) and a smooth vector fieldf with Taylor expansions
a(z)∼
α
aαzα and f(z)∼
α,j
fα,jzα∂zj,
their orders atqcan be computed as
ordq(a) = min{w(α) : aα = 0} and ordq(f) = min{w(α)−wj: fα,j = 0}.
A function or a vector field is said to behomogeneousif all the nonzero terms of its Taylor expansion have the same weighted degree.
We recall that, for any a, b ∈ C∞(M) and any smooth vector fields f, g, the order satisfies the following properties
ordq(a+b) = min{ordq(a),ordq(b)}, ordq(ab) = ordq(a) + ordq(b),
ordq(f+g) = min{ordq(f),ordq(g)}, ordq([f, g])≥ordq(f) + ordq(g). (2.6) Consider the control vector fields fi, 1 ≤i ≤m. By the definition of order, it follows that ordq(fi) ≥ −1.
Then we can expressfi in coordinates as
z∗fi = n j=1
hij+rij
∂zj,
wherehij are homogeneous polynomials of weighted degreewj−1 andrij are functions of order larger than or equal towj.
Definition 2.7. The nilpotent approximation atqoffi, 1≤i≤m, associated with the privileged coordinates z is the vector field with coordinate representation
z∗fi= n j=1
hij∂zj.
The nilpotentized sub-Riemannian control system is then defined as
˙ q=
m j=1
uj(t)fj(q). (NSR)
The family of vector fields{f1, . . . ,fm}is bracket-generating and nilpotent of stepr(i.e., every iterated bracket [fi1,[. . . ,[fik−1, fik]]] of length larger thanris zero).
The main property of the nilpotent approximation is the following (see for example [8], Prop. 7.29).
Proposition 2.8. Let (SR1) be satisfied,i.e. assume that{f1, . . . , fm}satisfies the H¨ormander condition, and let z = (z1, . . . , zn) be a system of privileged coordinates at q ∈ M for {f1, . . . , fm}. For T > 0 and u ∈ L1([0, T];Rm), with|u| ≡1, letγ(·)andγ(·)ˆ be the trajectories associated withuin(SR)and(NSR), respectively, and such thatγ(0) = ˆγ(0) =q. Then, there existC, T0>0, independent ofu, such that, for any t < T0, it holds
|zi(γ(t))−zi(ˆγ(t))| ≤Ctwi+1, i= 1, . . . , n.
We recall, finally, the celebrated Ball–Box Theorem, that gives a rough description of the shape of small sub-Riemannian balls.
Theorem 2.9(Ball–Box theorem).
Let (SR1) be satisfied,i.e.assume that {f1, . . . , fm} satisfies the H¨ormander condition, and let z= (z1, . . . , zn) be a system of privileged coordinates at q∈ M for {f1, . . . , fm}. Then there exist C, ε0 >0 such that for any ε < ε0, it holds
Box 1
Cε
⊂BSR(q, ε)⊂Box (Cε).
Here,BSR(q, ε) is identified with its coordinate representationz(BSR(q, ε))and, for anyη >0, we let
Box (η) ={z∈Rn: |zi| ≤ηwi}, (2.7)
The constantsC and ε0 in the above theorem depend on qand are not uniform, in general. However, this happens only when q is a singular point for the sub-Riemannian structure, i.e., if the growth vector is not constant nearq. We now state an uniform version of the Ball–Box theorem along integral curves of vector fields, which we will need in Section4.2. This is a particularization of a much more general result contained in [26].
Proposition 2.10. Let(SR1)be satisfied,i.e.assume that{f1, . . . , fm}satisfies the H¨ormander condition, and let z= (z1, . . . , zn) be a system of privileged coordinates at q∈M for {f1, . . . , fm}. Let f be a smooth vector field such that q be regular on its integral curve. Namely, there exists t0 such that dimΔs(et(q)), s ∈ N, is constant for t < t0. Then, there existC, ε0>0 such that for anyε < ε0 andt < t0, it holds
z(etf0(q)) + Box 1
Cε
⊂BSR(etf0(q), ε)⊂z(etf0(q)) + Box (Cε).
As a corollary of the Ball–Box theorem, we get the following result on the regularity of the distance.
Corollary 2.11. Let (SR1) be satisfied, i.e. assume that {f1, . . . , fm} satisfies the H¨ormander condition, and letz = (z1, . . . , zn) be a system of privileged coordinates at q∈M for {f1, . . . , fm}. Then there exists C, ε >0 such that
1
C|z(q)| ≤dSR(q, q)≤C|z(q)|1/r, q∈BSR(q, ε).
3. Time-dependent systems
3.1. Time-dependent control systems
Consider the following time-dependent non-holonomic control system
˙ q=
m i=1
uifit(q), q∈M, u= (u1, . . . , um)∈Rm, t∈I, (TD) whereI= [0, b) for someb≤+∞and{f1t, . . . , fmt}is a family of non-autonomous smooth vector fields depending smoothly on time. We letfut=m
i=1uifit. Moreover, we will need the following assumptions, already stated in the introduction, to be satisfied.
(T1) The mapt→fitis smooth for 1≤i≤m andt∈I.
(T2) The family of smooth vector fields {f1t, . . . , fmt}t∈I satisfies the strong H¨ormander condition, i.e., {f1t0, . . . , fmt0} satisfies the H¨ormander condition for anyt0∈I.
As we will see later on in Section 4, when considering families of time-dependent vector fields of the form fit= (e−tf0)∗fi assumption (T2) will follow from the strong H¨ormander condition for the affine control system with driftf0 and control vector fields{f1, . . . , fm}(i.e., assumption (D1)).
In analogy with the autonomous case, we define (TD)-admissible curves as absolutely continuous curves γ : [0, T] ⊂ I → M such that ˙γ(t) = fut(t)(γ(t)) for a.e. t ∈ [0, T] and for some control u ∈ L1([0, T],Rm).
Observe, however, that contrary to what happens in the sub-Riemannian case, the (TD)-admissibility property is not invariant under time reparametrization,e.g., a time reversal. Thus, we define the cost (and not the length) ofγ to be
c(γ) = minuL1([0,T],Rm),
where the minimum is taken over all controlsusuch thatγis associated withuand is attained due to convexity.
Thevalue functioninduced by the time-dependent system is then defined as
ρ(q, q) = inf{c(γ) : γ is (TD)-admissible andγ:qq}.
Clearly, the value function is non-negative. It is not a metric since, in general, it fails both to be symmetric and to satisfy the triangular inequality. Moreover, as the following example shows,ρcould be degenerate. Namely, it could happen thatq =q but ρ(q, q) = 0.
Example 3.1. LetM =R, with coordinatexand consider the vector fieldft= (1−t)−2∂x defined on [0,1).
For any x0 ∈R, x0 = 0, and for any sequence tn ↑ 1, let un ∈L1([0, tn]) be defined as un ≡(1−tn)x0. By definition, eachun steers the system from 0 tox0. Hence,
ρ1(0, x0)≤ inf
n∈NunL1([0,tn])= inf
n∈N
tn 0
(1−tn)x0dt=x0 inf
n∈Ntn(1−tn) = 0.
This proves that, for anyx0∈R,ρ1(0, x0) = 0.
ForT >0,q∈M andε >0, we denote the reachable set fromqwith cost less thanεby R(q, ε) ={q∈M: ρ(q, q)< ε}.
We will also consider the reachable set fromq in time less thanT >0 and cost less than ε, and denote it by RT(q, ε). ClearlyRT(q, ε)⊂ R(q, ε).
In general, the existence of minimizers for the optimal control problem associated with (TD) is not guaranteed.
We conclude this section with an example of this fact.
Example 3.2. Let M = R, with coordinate x, and consider the vector field ft = e−t∂x for t ∈ [0,1). Fix x0∈R,x0 = 0. Observe that, for anyT >0 and any controlu∈L1([0, T]) steering the system from 0 tox0, it holds
|x0|=
T 0
u(t)e−tdt ≤
T 0
|u(t)|e−tdt <uL1([0,T]). (3.1) This impliesρ(0, x0)≥ |x0|. Let nowun ∈L1([0,1/n]) be defined asun(t) =x0net. Clearlyunsteers the system from 0 tox0. Moreover,
ρ(0, x0)≤ inf
n∈NunL1([0,1/n])=|x0|inf
n∈N
e1n−1
n1
=|x0|.
This proves thatρ(0, x0) =|x0|. Hence, the non-existence of minimizers follows from (3.1).
3.2. Finiteness and continuity of the value function
In this section, we extend the Chow–Rashevsky Theorem to time-dependent non-holonomic systems under the strong H¨ormander condition. Namely, we will prove the following.
Theorem 3.3. Assume that{f1t, . . . , fmt}t∈I satisfies(T1)and(T2). Then, the functionρ:M×M →[0,+∞) is continuous. Moreover, for anyt0∈I and anyq, q∈M, lettingdSR be the sub-Riemannian distance induced by {f1t0, . . . , fmt0}, it holds ρ(q, q)≤dSR(q, q).
Let us introduce some notation. Following [5], the flows between timess, t∈Rof an autonomous vector field f and of a non-autonomous vector fieldτ→fτ will be denoted by, respectively,
e(t−s)f :M →M and −→exp t
s fτdτ:M →M.
Fix q ∈ M and assume, for the moment, that t0 = 0. Let ∈ N and F = (i1, . . . , i) ∈ {1, . . . , m}. For anyT ∈I, T >0, we define theswitching end-point map at time T and associated withF to be the function ET,F :R→M defined as
ET,F(ξ) =−→exp T
−1 T
T ξfiτdτ◦ · · · ◦ −→exp T
0
T ξ1fiτ1dτ(q)
=−→exp 1
−1
ξfiτTdτ◦ · · · ◦ −→exp 1
0
ξ1fiτ1T dτ(q).
(3.2) Here, we applied a standard change of variables formula for non-autonomous flows. Let then
gτT,F=
⎧⎪
⎪⎪
⎪⎨
⎪⎪
⎪⎪
⎩
ξ1fiτ1T if 0≤τ <1/, ξ2fi(τ2−1/)T if 1/≤τ <2/,
...
ξfi(τ−(−1)/)T if (−1)/≤τ <1,
(3.3)
so that we can write
ET,F(ξ) =−→exp 1
0
gTτ,F(ξ) dτ(q).
Clearly, t → −→expt
0gTτ,F(ξ) dτ(q), t ∈ [0,1], is a (TD)-admissible trajectory. Thus, ET,F(ξ), T > 0, is the end-point of a piecewise smooth (TD)-admissible curve of cost
i|ξi|.
We recall that, by the series expansion of −→exp (see [5]), for any non-autonomous smooth vector field fτ, it holds−→expt
0fτdτ(q) = et f0(q) +O(t2). Thus, we can define E0,F(ξ) = lim
T ↓0ET,F(ξ) = eξf0◦. . .◦eξ1f10(q) =−→exp 1
0
g0τ,F(ξ) dτ(q), where, gτ0,F(ξ) is defined in (3.3). Then t→ −→expt
0g0τ,F(ξ) dτ(q), t∈[0,1], is an (SR)-admissible curve for the sub-Riemannian structure defined by{f10, . . . , fm0}andE0,F(ξ) is the end-point of a piecewise smooth trajectory in (SR).
After [34], we say that a point q ∈ M is (TD)-reachable from q at time t0 = 0, if there exist ∈ N, F ∈ {1, . . . , m}, T > 0 and ξ ∈ R, such that ET,F(ξ) =q. In this case it is clear thatρ(q, q) ≤
i|ξi|.
Moreover, ifξ →ET,F(ξ) has ranknat ξ, the point q is said to be (TD)-normally reachableat time t0= 0.
Finally, the pointq is said to be (SR)-reachableor (SR)-normally reachable for the vector fields{f10, . . . , fm0}, if these properties holds forT = 0.
In the caset0>0, takingT >0 such thatT +t0∈I and changing the interval of integration in (3.2) from [0,T] to [t0, t0+T], it is clear how to define (TD)-reachableand (TD)-normally reachablepoints fromqat time t0, and (SR)-reachable and (SR)-normally reachable points for the vector fields{f1t0, . . . , fmt0}.
The proof of the following lemma is an adaptation of [34], Lemma 3.1.
Lemma 3.4. Let q∈M be (SR)-normally reachable for the vector fields{f1t0, . . . , fmt0}fromq, by some∈N, ξ∈RandF ∈ {1, . . . , m}. Then, there existε0,T0>0such that, for anyε < ε0, the pointq is(TD)-normally reachable at timet0, by the sameand F, and someξ ∈R, with
j|ξj−ξj| ≤ε, and any T <T0. Proof. Without loss of generality, we assumet0= 0.
LetU ⊂R be a neighborhood ofξsuch that E0,F has still ranknwhen restricted to it. Then, there exists
B = {x:
j|xj−ξj| ≤ ε} ⊂ U such that E0,F maps diffeomorphically a neighborhood of B in U onto a neighborhood of q. It follows, from standard properties of differential equations, that, forT >0 sufficiently small, the mapET,F is well defined onB and thatET,F −→E0,F asT ↓0 in theC1-topology overB. Thus, there existsT1>0 such that, forT <T1,ET,F has ranknat every point ofB.
Since the map E0,F is an homeomorphism fromB onto a neighborhood ofq, andET,F−→E0,F uniformly as T ↓0, it follows that there exists a fixed neighborhood V ofq andT2>0 such thatV ⊂ET,F(B), for any T <T2. Then, for anyT <min{T1,T2}, there existsξ∈B such that the pointq=ET,F(ξ) is (TD)-normally
reachable.
We will use the following consequence of Lemma3.4. We remark that the result holds even if{f1t, . . . , fmt}t∈I
satisfies the H¨ormander condition only at the timet0∈I.
Lemma 3.5. Let dSR be the sub-Riemannian distance induced by{f1t0, . . . , fmt0}, then for anyt1∈I, such that t1−t0>0is sufficiently small, and for any q, q∈M it holds that
inf{c(γ) : γ: [t0, t1]→M is (TD)-admissible,γ(t0) =qandγ(t1) =q} ≤dSR(q, q).
In particular, ρ(q, q)≤dSR(q, q).
Proof. Fixε >0. By Chow’s theorem it is clear thatq is (SR)-reacheable fromq. Moreover, since there exist (SR)-normally reachable points fromq arbitrarily close toq (seee.g., [1], Lem. 3.21), follows thatq is always (SR)-normally reacheable from q by ξ such that
j|ξj| ≤ dSR(q, q) +ε/2. Hence, by Lemma 3.4, if ε and η > 0 are sufficiently small, we have that q is (TD)-normally reachable from q at time t0 by ξ such that
j|ξj| ≤dSR(q, q) +εandT < t1. This clearly implies that
inf{c(γ) : γis (TD)-admissible,γ(t0) =q andγ(t1) =q} ≤dSR(q, q) +ε.
Finally, the lemma follows lettingε↓0.
We now prove the main theorem of the section.
