Tikhonov regularization method for a backward problem for the time-fractional diffusion equation

This paper is devoted to solve a backward problem for a time-fractional diffusion equation with variable coefficients in a general bounded domain by the Tikhonov regularization method. Based on the eigenfunction expansion of the solution, the backward problem for searching the initial data is changed to solve a Fredholm integral equation of the first kind. The conditional stability for the backward problem is obtained. We use the Tikhonov regularization method to deal with the integral equation and obtain the series expression of solution. Furthermore, the convergence rates for the Tikhonov regularized solution can be proved by using an a priori regularization parameter choice rule and an a posteriori regularization parameter choice rule. Two numerical examples in one-dimensional and two-dimensional cases respectively are investigated. Numerical results show that the proposed method is effective and stable.     

Tikhonov regularization method for a backward problem for the inhomogeneous time-fractional diffusion equation

Fractional (nonlocal) diffusion equations replace the integer-order derivatives in space and time by their fractional-order analogs and they are used to model anomalous diffusion, especially in physics. In this paper, we study a backward problem for an inhomogeneous time-fractional diffusion equation with variable coefficients in a general bounded domain. Such a backward problem is of practically great importance because we often do not know the initial density of substance, but we can observe the density at a positive moment. The backward problem is ill-posed and we propose a regularizing scheme by using Tikhonov regularization method. We also prove the convergence rate for the regularized solution by using an a priori regularization parameter choice rule. Numerical examples illustrate applicability and high accuracy of the proposed method.     

Recovering a space-dependent source term in a time-fractional diffusion wave equation

This work is concerned with identifying a space-dependent source function from noisy final time measured data in a time-fractional diffusion wave equation by a variational regularization approach. We provide a regularity of direct problem as well as the existence and uniqueness of adjoint problem. The uniqueness of the inverse source problem is discussed. Using the Tikhonov regularization method, the inverse source problem is formulated into a variational problem and a conjugate gradient algorithm is proposed to solve it. The efficiency and robust of the proposed method are supported by some numerical experiments.     

Regularization of a backward problem for the inhomogeneous time-fractional wave equation

In this paper, we consider a backward problem for an inhomogeneous time-fractional wave equation in a general bounded domain. Such a backward problem is of practically great importance because we often do not know the initial density of substance, but we can observe the density at a positive moment. The existence and regularity for the backward problem are investigated. The backward problem is ill-posed, and we propose a regularizing scheme by using a modified regularization method. We also prove the convergence rate for the regularized solution by using some a priori regularization parameter choice rule.     

A fractional Tikhonov method for solving a Cauchy problem of Helmholtz equation

In this paper, we study a fractional Tikhonov regularization method (FTRM) for solving a Cauchy problem of Helmholtz equation in the frequency domain. On the one hand, the FTRM retains the advantage of classical Tikhonov method. On the other hand, our method can prevent the effect of oversmoothing of classical Tikhonov method and conveniently control the amount of damping. The convergence error estimates between the exact solution and its regularization approximation are constructed. Several interesting numerical examples are provided, which validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Maximum principle for the generalized time-fractional diffusion equation

In the paper, a maximum principle for the generalized time-fractional diffusion equation over an open bounded domain is formulated and proved. The proof of the maximum principle is based on an extremum principle for the Caputo-Dzherbashyan fractional derivative that is given in the paper, too. The maximum principle is then applied to show that the initial-boundary-value problem for the generalized time-fractional diffusion equation possesses at most one classical solution and this solution continuously depends on the initial and boundary conditions.     

Modified Tikhonov regularization method for the Cauchy problem of the Helmholtz equation

In this paper, the Cauchy problem for the Helmholtz equation is investigated. By Green’s formulation, the problem can be transformed into a moment problem. Then we propose a modified Tikhonov regularization algorithm for obtaining an approximate solution to the Neumann data on the unspecified boundary. Error estimation and convergence analysis have been given. Finally, we present numerical results for several examples and show the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

An iterative method for backward time‐fractional diffusion problem

The aim of this work is to solve the backward problem for a time‐fractional diffusion equation with variable coefficients in a general bounded domain. The problem is ill‐posed in L ² norm sense. An iteration scheme is proposed to obtain a regularized solution. Two kinds of convergence rates are obtained using an a priori regularization parameter choice rule and an a posteriori regularization parameter choice rule. Numerical examples in one‐dimensional and two‐dimensional cases are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed methods. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 30: 2029–2041, 2014     

On a terminal value problem for a generalization of the fractional diffusion equation with hyper-Bessel operator

In this paper, we consider an inverse problem of recovering the initial value for a generalization of time-fractional diffusion equation, where the time derivative is replaced by a regularized hyper-Bessel operator. First, we investigate the existence and regularity of our terminal value problem. Then we show that the backward problem is ill-posed, and we propose a regularizing scheme using a fractional Tikhonov regularization method. We also present error estimates between the regularized solution and the exact solution using two parameter choice rules.     

A backward problem for the time‐fractional diffusion equation

In this paper, we are concerned with the backward problem of reconstructing the initial condition of a time‐fractional diffusion equation from interior measurements. We establish uniqueness results and provide stability analysis. Our method is based on the eigenfunction expansion of the forward solution and the Tikhonov regularization to tackle the ill‐posedness issue of the underlying inverse problem. Some numerical examples are included to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Uniqueness for an inverse space-dependent source term in a multi-dimensional time-fractional diffusion equation

This paper is devoted to identify a space-dependent source term in a multi-dimensional time-fractional diffusion equation from boundary measured data. The uniqueness for the inverse source problem is proved by the Laplace transformation method.     

A modified Tikhonov regularization method for an axisymmetric backward heat equation

This paper deals with the inverse time problem for an axisymmetric heat equation. The problem is ill-posed. A modified Tikhonov regularization method is applied to formulate regularized solution which is stably convergent to the exact one. estimate between the approximate solution and exact technical inequality and improving a priori smoothness Meanwhile, a logarithmic-HSlder type error solution is obtained by introducing a rather assumption.     

Initial-boundary-value problems for the generalized multi-term time-fractional diffusion equation

In this paper, the initial-boundary-value problems for the generalized multi-term time-fractional diffusion equation over an open bounded domain G×(0,T), G∈Rn are considered. Based on an appropriate maximum principle that is formulated and proved in the paper, too, some a priory estimates for the solution and then its uniqueness are established. To show the existence of the solution, first a formal solution is constructed using the Fourier method of the separation of the variables. The time-dependent components of the solution are given in terms of the multinomial Mittag-Leffler function. Under certain conditions, the formal solution is shown to be a generalized solution of the initial-boundary-value problem for the generalized time-fractional multi-term diffusion equation that turns out to be a classical solution under some additional conditions. Another important consequence from the maximum principle is a continuously dependence of the solution on the problem data (initial and boundary conditions and a source function) that - together with the uniqueness and existence results - makes the problem under consideration to a well-posed problem in the Hadamard sense.     

A numerical technique for solving IHCPs using Tikhonov regularization method

This study is intended to provide a numerical algorithm for solving a one-dimensional inverse heat conduction problem. The given heat conduction equation, the boundary conditions, and the initial condition are presented in a dimensionless form. The numerical approach is developed based on the use of the solution to the auxiliary problem as a basis function. To regularize the resultant ill-conditioned linear system of equations, we apply the Tikhonov regularization method to obtain the stable numerical approximation to the solution.     

Regularization of a terminal value problem for time fractional diffusion equation

In this article, we study an inverse problem with inhomogeneous source to determine an initial data from the time fractional diffusion equation. In general, this problem is ill-posed in the sense of Hadamard, so the quasi-boundary value method is proposed to solve the problem. In the theoretical results, we propose a priori and a posteriori parameter choice rules and analyze them. Finally, two numerical results in the one-dimensional and two-dimensional case show the evidence of the used regularization method.     

Uniqueness for an inverse source problem of determining a space dependent source in a time-fractional diffusion equation

We study uniqueness of a solution for an inverse source problem arising in linear time-fractional diffusion equations with time dependent coefficients. New uniqueness results are formulated in Theorem 3.1. We also show optimality of the conditions under which uniqueness holds by explicitly constructing counterexamples, that is by constructing more than one solution in the case when the conditions for uniqueness are violated.     

A generalized quasi-boundary value method for the backward semi-linear time-fractional heat problem in a cylinder

We are concerned with a backward problem associated with a semi-linear time-fractional heat equation in an axis-symmetric cylinder, which arises from the modeling of the blast furnace steelmaking in metallurgy. Under some assumptions, the existence and uniqueness of the solution to the semi-linear problem is first established. The ill-posedness of the backward problem is then established, and we obtain the error estimates by a generalized quasi-boundary value regularization method. Finally, the numerical experiment is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Fourier regularization for a final value time-fractional diffusion problem

The evolution process of fractional order describes some phenomenon of anomalous diffusion and transport dynamics in complex system. The equation containing time-fractional derivative provides a suitable mathematical model for describing such a process. The backward problem for this system, which means to recover the initial state for some slow diffusion process from its present status, is very hard to solve due to the nonlocal property of fractional derivative and the irreversibility of time. For this ill-posed problem, we construct a regularizing solution using the Fourier transform method. Both the a-priori choice strategy and the a-posteriori choice strategy for the regularizing parameter are given, with the convergence analysis on the regularizing solution. Numerical implementations are presented to show the validity of the proposed scheme.     

A modified quasi-boundary value method for an inverse source problem of the time-fractional diffusion equation

In this paper, we consider an inverse source problem for a time-fractional diffusion equation with variable coefficients in a general bounded domain. That is to determine a space-dependent source term in the time-fractional diffusion equation from a noisy final data. Based on a series expression of the solution, we can transform the original inverse problem into a first kind integral equation. The uniqueness and a conditional stability for the space-dependent source term can be obtained. Further, we propose a modified quasi-boundary value regularization method to deal with the inverse source problem and obtain two kinds of convergence rates by using an a priori and an a posteriori regularization parameter choice rule, respectively. Numerical examples in one-dimensional and two-dimensional cases are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

On a backward problem for fractional diffusion equation with Riemann-Liouville derivative

In the present paper, we study the initial inverse problem (backward problem) for a two-dimensional fractional differential equation with Riemann-Liouville derivative. Our model is considered in the random noise of the given data. We show that our problem is not well-posed in the sense of Hadamard. A truncated method is used to construct an approximate function for the solution (called the regularized solution). Furthermore, the error estimate of the regularized solution in L² and H^τ norms is considered and illustrated by numerical example.