A uniqueness theorem in the inverse problem for the integrodifferential electrodynamics equations

Under study is the problem of finding the kernel and the index of dielectric permeability for the system of integrodifferential electrodynamics equations with wave dispersion. We consider a direct problem in which the external pulse current is a dipole located at a point y on the boundary ?B of the unit ball B. The point y runs over the whole boundary and is a parameter of the problem. The information available about the solution to the direct problem is the trace on ?B of the solution to the Cauchy problem given for the times close to the time when a wave from the dipole source arrives at a point x. The main result of the article consists in obtaining some theorems related to the uniqueness problems for a solution to the inverse problem.     

The problem of recovering the permittivity coefficient from the modulus of the scattered electromagnetic field

Under consideration is the stationary system of equations of electrodynamics relating to a nonmagnetic nonconducting medium. We study the problem of recovering the permittivity coefficient ε from given vectors of electric or magnetic intensities of the electromagnetic field. It is assumed that the field is generated by a point impulsive dipole located at some point y. It is also assumed that the permittivity differs from a given constant ε₀ only inside some compact domain Ω ? R³ with smooth boundary S. To recover ε inside Ω, we use the information on a solution to the corresponding direct problem for the system of equations of electrodynamics on the whole boundary of Ω for all frequencies from some fixed frequency ω ₀ on and for all y ∈ S. The asymptotics of a solution to the direct problem for large frequencies is studied and it is demonstrated that this information allows us to reduce the initial problem to the well-known inverse kinematic problem of recovering the refraction index inside Ω with given travel times of electromagnetic waves between two arbitrary points on the boundary of Ω. This allows us to state uniqueness theorem for solutions to the problem in question and opens up a way of its constructive solution.     

An inverse non-Fourier heat conduction problem approach for estimating the boundary condition in electronic device

This study is intended to provide an inverse method for estimating the unknown boundary condition T(0,y,t) in a non-Fourier heat conduction electronic device. In this study, finite-difference methods are employed to discretize the problem domain, and then a linear inverse model is constructed to identify the unknown boundary condition. The present approach is to rearrange the matrix forms of the differential governing equations and to estimate the unknown conditions. Then, the linear least-squares method is adopted to obtain the solution.The results show that one measuring point is sufficient to estimate the unknown boundary condition T(0,y,t) without measurement errors. When considering the measurement errors, the magnitudes of the discrepancies in the boundary condition T(0,y,t) are directly proportional to the size of measurement errors. Due to the complicated reflection and interaction of the thermal waves, this phenomenon reflects the fact that the inverse non-Fourier heat conduction problem is different from the inverse Fourier heat conduction problem.In contrast to the traditional approach, the advantage of applying this method in inverse analysis is that no prior information is needed on the functional form of the unknown quantities. In addition, no initial guess is required and the calculation can be done in only one iteration.     

Boundary properties of functions harmonic in a strip

We study in the L_p-norm, 1≤p≤∞, the boundary properties of the solution to the Dirichlet problem for the stripA ={(x, y):?∞0} and its dependence on the structural properties of the given boundary values (symmetric, antisymmetric). In particular, for the case of symmetric boundary values we obtain direct and inverse theorems on approximation in terms of the general modulus of continuity of second order.     

About the stability of the inverse problem in 1-D wave equations—application to the interpretation of seismic profiles

This paper is devoted to the study of the following inverse problem: Given the 1-D wave equation: (1) $$\begin{gathered} \rho (z)\frac{{\partial ^2 y}}{{\partial t^2 }} - \frac{\partial }{{\partial z}}\left( {\mu (z)\frac{{\partial y}}{{\partial z}}} \right) = 0 z > 0,t > 0 \hfill \\ + boundary excitation at z = 0 + zero initial conditons \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ how to determine the parameter functions (ρ(z),μ(z)) from the only boundary measurementY(t) ofy(z, t)/z=0. This inverse problem is motivated by the reflection seismic exploration techniques, and is known to be very unstable. We first recall in §1 how to constructequivalence classes σ(x) of couples (ρ(z),ρ(z)) that areundistinguishable from the givenboundary measurements Y(t). Then we give in §2 existence theorems of the solutiony of the state equations (1), and study the mappingσ→Y: We define on the set of equivalence classes Σ={σ(x)|σ _min ?σ(x) ? σ _max for a.e.x} (σ _min andσ _max a priori given) a distanced which is weak enough to make Σ compact, but strong enough to ensure the (lipschitz) continuity of the mappingσ→Y. This ensures the existence of a solution to the inverse problem set as an optimization problem on Σ. The fact that this distanced is much weaker than the usualL ² norm explains the tendency to unstability reported by many authors. In §3, the case of piecewise constant parameter is carefully studied in view of the numerical applications, and a theorem of stability of the inverse problem is given. In §4, numerical results on simulated but realistic datas (300 unknown values forσ) are given for the interpretation of seismic profiles with the above method.     

Problem of determining the permittivity in the stationary system of Maxwell equations

The stationary system of Maxwell equations for a unmagnetized nonconducting medium is considered. For this system, the problem of determining the permittivity ε from given electric or magnetic fields is studied. It is assumed that the electromagnetic field is induced by a plane wave coming from infinity in the direction ν. It is also assumed that the permittivity is different from a given positive constant ε₀ only inside a compact domain Ω ? R ³ with a smooth boundary S. To find ε inside Ω, the solution of the corresponding direct problem for the system of electrodynamic equations on the shadow portion of the boundary of Ω is specified for all frequencies starting at some fixed ω₀ and for all ν. The high-frequency asymptotics of the solution to the direct problem is studied. It is shown that the information specified makes it possible to reduce the original problem to the well-known inverse kinematic problem of determining the refraction coefficient inside Ω from the traveling times of an electromagnetic wave. This leads to a uniqueness theorem for the solution of the problem under consideration and opens up the opportunity of its constructive solution.     

An initial value problem for a functional equation

We consider the functional equationf(A(x,y))=B(f(x),f(y)), whereA andB are averages. It is known that such a functional equation has exactly one continuous solution satisfying a given two-point condition. By analogy with the theory of differential equations, we may regard the functional equation, together with a two-point condition, as a boundary value problem. (Then each boundary value problem has a unique continuous solution.) If we replace the two-point condition with the specification of a value and derivative at just one point, we obtain an initial value problem.Consider the initial value problemsf(A(x,y))=B(f(x),f(y)),f(a)=s,f(a)=, obtained by fixinga ands and allowing to vary through the set of positive real numbers. The main result of this paper gives a necessary and sufficient condition for each of the initial value problems to have a unique continuous solution, under the hypothesis that at least one of the problems has a continuous solution. This is a partial answer to the problem of determining conditions which are sufficient for the existence of a unique continuous solution of a given initial value problem.     

Two regularization methods for a Cauchy problem for the Laplace equation

A Cauchy problem for the Laplace equation in a rectangle is considered. Cauchy data are given for y=0, and boundary data are for x=0 and x=π. The solution for 0<y?1 is sought. We propose two different regularization methods on the ill-posed problem based on separation of variables. Both methods are applied to formulate regularized solutions which are stably convergent to the exact one with explicit error estimates.     

Symmetric positive systems in corner domains

Consider the symmetric positive system of n equations in m + 2 variables,

$\text{A}\text{?u}\text{?x}\text{+ B}\text{?u}\text{?y}\text{+}\text{∑}\text{i=1}\text{m}\text{C}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{?u}\text{?z}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{+ Du = ?}$

in the corner domain x > 0, y > 0, ? ∞ < z_i < ∞, with homogeneous data on x = 0 and y = 0. The n × n matrices A, B, C_i are symmetric and D is sufficiently positive. On the boundary surfaces the matrix coefficients A, B, C_i satisfy certain “torsion” conditions. For ? with square integrable first-order derivatives, the strong solution with first-order strong derivatives is derived for the boundary value problem. For less restricted ?, the partially differentiable strong solution is established, provided more severe torsion conditions are satisfied on the boundaries. Also, the partially differentiable strong solution is obtained for the case that the torsion conditions are satisfied on one side of the boundary only.     

Boundary Value Problems for the Elliptic Sine-Gordon Equation in a Semi-strip

We study boundary value problems posed in a semistrip for the elliptic sine-Gordon equation, which is the paradigm of an elliptic integrable PDE in two variables. We use the method introduced by one of the authors, which provides a substantial generalization of the inverse scattering transform and can be used for the analysis of boundary as opposed to initial-value problems. We first express the solution in terms of a 2×2 matrix Riemann–Hilbert problem whose “jump matrix” depends on both the Dirichlet and the Neumann boundary values. For a well posed problem one of these boundary values is an unknown function. This unknown function is characterised in terms of the so-called global relation, but in general this characterisation is nonlinear. We then concentrate on the case that the prescribed boundary conditions are zero along the unbounded sides of a semistrip and constant along the bounded side. This corresponds to a case of the so-called linearisable boundary conditions, however, a major difficulty for this problem is the existence of non-integrable singularities of the function q _y at the two corners of the semistrip; these singularities are generated by the discontinuities of the boundary condition at these corners. Motivated by the recent solution of the analogous problem for the modified Helmholtz equation, we introduce an appropriate regularisation which overcomes this difficulty. Furthermore, by mapping the basic Riemann–Hilbert problem to an equivalent modified Riemann–Hilbert problem, we show that the solution can be expressed in terms of a 2×2 matrix Riemann–Hilbert problem whose “jump matrix” depends explicitly on the width of the semistrip L, on the constant value d of the solution along the bounded side, and on the residues at the given poles of a certain spectral function denoted by h(λ). The determination of the function h remains open.     

Two functionals connected to the Laplacian in a class of doubly connected domains on rank one symmetric spaces of non-compact type

Let B ₁ be a ball in a non-compact rank-one symmetric space and let B ₀ be a smaller ball inside it. It is shown that if y is the solution of the problem ?Δu = 1 in ${B_1 \setminus \bar{B_0}}$ vanishing on the boundary, then the Dirichlet-energy of y is minimal if and only if the balls are concentric. It is also shown that the first Dirichlet eigenvalue of the Laplacian on ${B_1 \setminus \bar{B_0}}$ is maximal if and only if the two balls are concentric. The formalism of Damek-Ricci harmonic spaces is used.     

The asymptotic estimates of solutions of difference equations

The asymptotic estimate of the solution y(t) of linear difference equations with almost constant coefficients and the condition of asymptotic equivalence between y(t) and y₀(t) are given, where y₀(t) is the corresponding solution of linear equations with constant coefficients. A brief and elementary proof of the results is presented. The method of proof carries over to differential equations in which some similar results are stated.     

A reconstruction method for a two-dimensional inverse eigenvalue problem

In this paper we describe a method for constructing approximate solutions of a two-dimensional inverse eigenvalue problem. Here we consider the problem of recovering a functionq(x, y) from the eigenvalues of — +q(x, y) on a rectangle with Dirichlet boundary conditions. The potentialq(x, y) is assumed to be symmetric with respect to the midlines of the rectangle. Our method is a generalization of an algorithm Hald presented for the construction of symmetric potentials in the one-dimensional inverse Sturm-Liouville problem. Using a projection method, the inverse spectral problem is reduced to an inverse eigenvalue problem for a matrix. We show that if the given eigenvalues are small perturbations of simple eigenvalues ofq=0, then the matrix problem has a solution. This solution is used to construct a functionq which has the same lowest eigenvalues as the unknownq, and several numerical examples are given to illustrate the methods.     

On coupled Boltzmann transport equation related to radiation therapy

We consider a system of Boltzmann transport equations which models the charged particle evolution in media. The system is related to the dose calculation in radiation therapy. Although only one species of particles, say photons is invasing these particles mobilize other type of particles (electrons and positrons). Hence in realistic modelling of particle transport one needs a coupled system of three Boltzmann transport equations. The solution of this system must satisfy the inflow boundary condition. We show existence and uniqueness result of the solution applying generalized Lax-Milgram Theorem. In addition, we verify that (in the case of external therapy) under certain assumptions the “incoming flux to dose operator” D₁ is compact. Also the adjoint is analyzed. Finally we consider the inverse planning problem as an optimal control problem. Its solution can be used as an initial solution of the actual inverse planning problem.     

Average boundary conditions in Cauchy problems

We consider the general Cauchy problem with initial data in a Hilbert space and with a formal dissipative linear generator. A complete parametrization is known of the (abstract) boundary conditions which make this problem well set. We exhibit a distinguished subset $\text{B}$_E of the set $\text{B}$ of boundary conditions and demonstrate explicitly that the evolution associated with each B in $\text{B}$ can be represented as a (time independent) average over the evolutions associated with B′ in $\text{B}$_E. Applications are discussed to Schrödinger equations in bounded regions or with singular potentials.     

Inverse spectral problem for integro-differential operators

In this paper, we study the inverse spectral problem on a finite interval for the integro-differential operator ? which is the perturbation of the Sturm-Liouville operator by the Volterra integral operator. The potential q belongs to L ₂[0, π] and the kernel of the integral perturbation is integrable in its domain of definition. We obtain a local solution of the inverse reconstruction problem for the potential q, given the kernel of the integral perturbation, and prove the stability of this solution. For the spectral data we take the spectra of two operators given by the expression for ? and by two pairs of boundary conditions coinciding at one of the finite points.     

Inverse problem of determining the kernel in an integro-differential equation of parabolic type

We study the inverse problem of determining the multidimensional kernel of the integral term in a parabolic equation of second order. As additional information, the solution of the direct problem is given on the hyperplane x _n = 0. We prove a local existence and uniqueness theorem for the inverse problem.     

Well-posedness of an infinite system of partial differential equations modelling parasitic infection in an age-structured host

We study a deterministic model for the dynamics of a population infected by macroparasites. The model consists of an infinite system of partial differential equations, with initial and boundary conditions; the system is transformed in an abstract Cauchy problem on a suitable Banach space, and existence and uniqueness of the solution are obtained through multiplicative perturbation of a linear C₀-semigroup. Positivity and boundedness are proved using the specific form of the equations.     

Least-Squares Solution of Inverse Problem for Hermitian Anti-reflexive Matrices and Its Appoximation

In this paper, we first consider the least-squares solution of the matrix inverse problem as follows： Find a hermitian anti-reflexive matrix corresponding to a given generalized reflection matrix J such that for given matrices X, B we have minA ｜｜AX - B｜｜. The existence theorems are obtained, and a general representation of such a matrix is presented. We denote the set of such matrices by SE. Then the matrix nearness problem for the matrix inverse problem is discussed. That is： Given an arbitrary A^＊, find a matrix A E SE which is nearest to A^＊ in Frobenius norm. We show that the nearest matrix is unique and provide an expression for this nearest matrix.     

Integral comparison theorems and extremal points for linear differential equations

Comparison theorems of integral type are developed for linear differential equations of the form (1) L_ny + p(t)y = 0 and (2) L_ny + q(t)y = 0. Under the assumption that (2) has no nontrivial solution satisfying given homogeneous two point boundary conditions it follows that the same is true for (1), provided certain sign and integral conditions hold. The criteria may be thought of as rather general extensions of the Hille-Wintner type and also include and extend recent results of Elias.