Null-controllability properties of the wave equation with a second order memory term

Abstract: We study the internal controllability of a wave equation with memory in the principal part, defined on the one-dimensional torus $\mathbb{T}=\mathbb{R}/2\pi\mathbb{Z}$. We assume that the control is acting on an open subset $\omega(t)\subset\mathbb{T}$, which is moving with a constant velocity $c\in\mathbb{R}\setminus{-1,0,1}$. The main result of the paper shows that the equation is null controllable in a sufficiently large time $T$ and for initial data belonging to suitable Sobolev spaces. Its proof follows from a careful analysis of the spectrum associated to our problem and from the application of the classical moment method.