Optimal control of continuity equations

An optimal control problem for the continuity equation is considered. The aim of a “controller” is to maximize the total mass within a target set at a given time moment. The existence of optimal controls is established. For a particular case of the problem, where an initial distribution is absolutely continuous with smooth density and the target set has certain regularity properties, a necessary optimality condition is derived. It is shown that for the general problem one may construct a perturbed problem that satisfies all the assumptions of the necessary optimality condition, and any optimal control for the perturbed problem, is nearly optimal for the original one.