A direct comparison of high-speed methods for the numerical Abel transform

The Abel transform is a mathematical operation that transforms a cylindrically symmetric three-dimensional (3D) object into its two-dimensional (2D) projection. The inverse Abel transform reconstructs the 3D object from the 2D projection. Abel transforms have wide application across numerous fields of science, especially chemical physics, astronomy, and the study of laser-plasma plumes. Consequently, many numerical methods for the Abel transform have been developed, which makes it challenging to select the ideal method for a specific application. In this work eight transform methods have been incorporated into a single, open-source Python software package (PyAbel) to provide a direct comparison of the capabilities, advantages, and relative computational efficiency of each transform method. Most of the tested methods provide similar, high-quality results. However, the computational efficiency varies across several orders of magnitude. By optimizing the algorithms, we find that some transform methods are sufficiently fast to transform 1-megapixel images at more than 100 frames per second on a desktop personal computer. In addition, we demonstrate the transform of gigapixel images.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

A new and efficient method for the computation of Legendre coefficients

An efficient procedure for the computation of the coefficients of Legendre expansions is here presented. We prove that the Legendre coefficients associated with a function f(x) can be represented as the Fourier coefficients of an Abel-type transform of f(x). The computation of N Legendre coefficients can then be performed in O(N log N) operations with a single Fast Fourier Transform of the Abel-type transform of f(x).Comment: 5 page

Paley-Wiener theorems for the Dunkl transform

We conjecture a geometrical form of the Paley-Wiener theorem for the Dunkl transform and prove three instances thereof, one of which involves a limit transition from Opdam's results for the graded Hecke algebra. Furthermore, the connection between Dunkl operators and the Cartan motion group is established. It is shown how the algebra of radial parts of invariant differential operators can be described explicitly in terms of Dunkl operators, which implies that the generalized Bessel functions coincide with the spherical functions. In this context, the restriction of Dunkl's intertwining operator to the invariants can be interpreted in terms of the Abel transform. Using shift operators we also show that, for certain values of the multiplicities of the restricted roots, the Abel transform is essentially inverted by a differential operator.Comment: LaTeX, 26 pages, no figures. References updated and minor changes, mathematically identical to the first version. To appear in Trans. Amer. Math. So

An overview of harmonic analysis and the shifted wave equation on symmetric graphs

Let X be a symmetric graph of type k and order r, where k,r $\ge$ 2 are integers. In this paper we give explicite expressions of the horocyclic Abel transform and its dual, as well as their inverses X. We then derive the Plancherel measure for the Helgason-Fourier transform on G and give a version of the Kunze-Stein phenomenon thereon. Finally, we compute the solution to the shifted wave equation on X, using {\`A}sgeirsson's mean value theorem and the inverse dual Abel transform.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figur

Conditioning bounds for traveltime tomography in layered media

This paper revisits the problem of recovering a smooth, isotropic, layered wave speed profile from surface traveltime information. While it is classic knowledge that the diving (refracted) rays classically determine the wave speed in a weakly well-posed fashion via the Abel transform, we show in this paper that traveltimes of reflected rays do not contain enough information to recover the medium in a well-posed manner, regardless of the discretization. The counterpart of the Abel transform in the case of reflected rays is a Fredholm kernel of the first kind which is shown to have singular values that decay at least root-exponentially. Kinematically equivalent media are characterized in terms of a sequence of matching moments. This severe conditioning issue comes on top of the well-known rearrangement ambiguity due to low velocity zones. Numerical experiments in an ideal scenario show that a waveform-based model inversion code fits data accurately while converging to the wrong wave speed profile

Null Spaces of Radon Transforms

We obtain new descriptions of the null spaces of several projectively equivalent transforms in integral geometry. The paper deals with the hyperplane Radon transform, the totally geodesic transforms on the sphere and the hyperbolic space, the spherical slice transform, and the Cormack-Quinto spherical mean transform for spheres through the origin. The consideration extends to the corresponding dual transforms and the relevant exterior/interior modifications. The method relies on new results for the Gegenbauer-Chebyshev integrals, which generalize Abel type fractional integrals on the positive half-line.Comment: 24 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1410.411

The Lamb-Bateman integral equation and the fractional derivatives

The Lamb-Bateman integral equation was introduced to study the solitary wave diffraction and its solution was written in terms of an integral transform. We prove that it is essentially the Abel integral equation and its solution can be obtained using the formalism of fractional calculus.Comment: 3 pages; revised version (misprints corrected, acknowledgements added