The enclosure method for the heat equation

This paper shows how the enclosure method which was originally introduced for elliptic equations can be applied to inverse initial boundary value problems for parabolic equations. For the purpose a prototype of inverse initial boundary value problems whose governing equation is the heat equation is considered. An explicit method to extract an approximation of the value of the support function at a given direction of unknown discontinuity embedded in a heat conductive body from the temperature for a suitable heat flux on the lateral boundary for a fixed observation time is given.Comment: 12pages. This is the final versio

Probe method and a Carleman function

A Carleman function is a special fundamental solution with a large parameter for the Laplace operator and gives a formula to calculate the value of the solution of the Cauchy problem in a domain for the Laplace equation. The probe method applied to an inverse boundary value problem for the Laplace equation in a bounded domain is based on the existence of a special sequence of harmonic functions which is called a {\it needle sequence}. The needle sequence blows up on a special curve which connects a given point inside the domain with a point on the boundary of the domain and is convergent locally outside the curve. The sequence yields a reconstruction formula of unknown discontinuity, such as cavity, inclusion in a given medium from the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map. In this paper, an explicit needle sequence in {\it three dimensions} is given in a closed form. It is an application of a Carleman function introduced by Yarmukhamedov. Furthermore, an explicit needle sequence in the probe method applied to the reduction of inverse obstacle scattering problems with an {\it arbitrary} fixed wave number to inverse boundary value problems for the Helmholtz equation is also given.Comment: 2 figures, final versio

An inverse source problem for the heat equation and the enclosure method

An inverse source problem for the heat equation is considered. Extraction formulae for information about the time and location when and where the unknown source of the equation firstly appeared are given from a single lateral boundary measurement. New roles of the plane progressive wave solutions or their complex versions for the backward heat equation are given.Comment: 23page