Sensitivity Relations for Optimal Control Problems with State Constraints

In optimal control theory, it is well known that the costate arc and the associated maximized Hamiltonian function can be interpreted in terms of gradients of the value function, evaluated along the optimal state trajectory. Such relations have been referred to as 'sensitivity relations' in the literature. In this paper, we announce new sensitivity relations for state constrained optimal control problems. For the class of optimal control problems considered there is no guarantee that the co-state arc is unique; a key feature of the results is that they assert 'some' choice of co-state arc can be made, for which the sensitivity relations are valid. The proof technique is to introduce a new optimal control problem that possesses a richer set of control variables than the original problem. The introduction of the additional control variables in effect enlarges the class of variations with respect to which the state trajectory under consideration is a minimizer; the extra information obtained is precisely the desired set of sensitivity relations.