This preprint was accepted December 25, 2006
ABSTRACT: The scattering problem is to find $u=u^f(x,t)$ satisfying \begin{align*} &u_{tt}-\Delta u+qu=0, \qquad (x,t) \in {\Bbb R}^3 \times (-\infty,\infty) \\ &u \mid_{|x|<-t} =0 , \qquad t<0\\ &\lim_{s \to \infty} su((s+\tau)\omega,-s)=f(\tau,\omega), \qquad (\tau,\omega) \in [0,\infty)\times S^2 \end{align*} for a real smooth compactly supported potential $q=q(x)$ and a control $f \in {\cal F} =L_2([0,\infty);L_2(S^2))$. The corresponding control problem is: given $y \in {\cal H} =L_2({\Bbb R}^3)$ find $f \in {\cal F}$ providing $u^f(\cdot,0)=y$; the reachable set is $ {\cal U}=\left \{ u^f(\cdot,0) \mid f \in {\cal F} \right \}$; the subspace of unreachable states is ${\cal D}={\cal H} \ominus {\cal U}$. The main subject of the paper is the structure of ${\cal U}$ and ${\cal D}$. We present an example of the finite energy solution $u^f$ satisfying $u^f|_{|x|<|t|}=0$, i.e., vanishing simultaneously in the past and future cones (reversing wave) and introduce the set of points at which such a ``revers effect'' occurs. The existence of the reversing waves turns out to be equivalent to the lack of controllability $ {\cal D} \neq \{0\}$. Cauchy data of such waves belong to the classes $D_\mp$ of the incoming and outgoing data simultaneously, providing $D_- \cap D_+ \not= \{0\}$. We also describe the simple conditions on $f$ ensuring $\|u^f(\cdot,t)\|_{\cal H} \leq c \|f\|_{\cal F}$ for all $t \in (-\infty, \infty)$.[Full text: (.ps.gz)]