Measure solutions to perturbed structured population models - differentiability with respect to perturbation parameter

Abstract

This paper is devoted to study measure solutions $μ_t^h$ to perturbed nonlinear structured population models where $t$ denotes time and $h$ controlls the size of perturbation. We address differentiability of the map $h \mapsto μ_t^h$. After showing that this type of results cannot be expected in the space of bounded Radon measures $\mathcal{M}(\mathbb{R}^+)$ equipped with the flat metric, we move to the slightly bigger spaces $Z = \overline{\mathcal{M}(\mathbb{R}^+)}^{(C^{1+α})^*}$. We prove that when $α> \frac{1}{2}$, the map $h \mapsto μ_t^h$ is differentiable in $Z$. The proof exploits approximation scheme of a nonlinear problem from previous studies and is based on the iteration of an implicit integral equations obtained from study of the linear equation. The result shows that space $Z$ is a promising setting for optimal control of phenomena governed by such type of models.