Zero-class admissibility of observation operators

An admissible observation operator is zero-class admissible if the norm of the output map tends to zero as the time tends to zero. Sufficient and necessary conditions for zero-class admissibility of observation operators are developed and a modified Weiss condition is studied. It is shown that the modified Weiss condition is in general necessary, but not sufficient for zero-class admissibility. For several important classes of C_0-semigroups it is proved that the modified Weiss condition is indeed equivalent to zero-class admissibility. The methods are illustrated by certain PDE examples.