Inverse Boundary Problems

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In inverse boundary problems one attempts to determine the internal properties of a medium by making measurements at the boundary of the medium. In other words, can one "see" what is inside by making measurements on the outside? An example are CT scans, a commonly used medical imaging technique. One measures the response of the body to X-rays and makes an image of what is inside from this information. The principal investigator will investigate ultrasound transmission and reflection tomography which uses high frequency sound waves instead of X-rays. Also several inverse problems in cosmology will be considered. The main questions is whether one can determine the structure of the Universe billions of years ago from measurements made near the Earth.The principal investigator will address the mathematical theory of several fundamental inverse problems arising in many areas of science and technology including medical imaging, geophysics, cosmology, and nondestructive testing. Three major topics of research will be investigated. The first one is Travel Time Tomography in anisotropic media. In mathematical terms this involves the determination of a Riemannian metric or Finsler metric (anisotropic sound speed) in the interior of a domain from the lengths of geodesics joining points of the boundary (travel times) and from other kinematic information. The second is inverse problems for non-linear equations arising in many applications including general relativity, elasticity, fluids etc. The main idea is to use the nonlinear interaction of waves to produce new waves that will help solve the inverse problems. The third is Electric Impedance Tomography (EIT), also called Calderon's problem. In this inverse method one attempts to determine the conductivity of a medium by making voltage and current measurements at the boundary. In the project the quasilinear case will be considered as well as an analog problem for the fractional Laplacian.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.