A simple method for some class of inverse obstacle scattering problems is introduced. The observation data are given by a wave field measured on a known surface surrounding unknown obstacles over a finite time interval. The wave is generated by an initial data with compact support outside the surface. The method yields the distance from a given point outside the surface to obstacles and thus more than the convex hull.
The aim of this chapter is to make a review of the recent results using the Enclosure Method on inverse obstacle problems governed by the wave equation and the Maxwell system in time domain. We also describe some of unsolved problems related to further possibility of the Enclosure Method itself.
More than ten years ago Ikehata discovered two mathematical methods for the purpose of extracting information about the location and shape of unknown discontinuity embedded in a known background medium from observation data. The methods are called the probe and enclosure methods. This paper presents their past and recent applications to inverse obstacle scattering problems of acoustic wave.
This paper gives a note on an application of the enclosure method to an inverse obstacle scattering problem governed by the Helmholtz equation in two dimensions. It is shown that one can uniquely determine the convex hull of an unknown sound-hard polygonal obstacle from the trace of the total wave that was exerted by a single point source onto a known circle surrounding the obstacle provided the source is sufficiently far from the obstacle. The result contains a formula that extracts the value of the support function of the obstacle at a generic direction. Some other applications to thin obsta…
In this paper a wave is generated by an initial data whose support is localized at the outside of unknown obstacles and observed in a limited time on a known closed surface or the same position as the support of the initial data. The observed data in the latter process are nothing but the back-scattering data. Two types of obstacles are considered. One is obstacles with a dissipative boundary condition which is a generalization of the sound-hard obstacles; another is obstacles with a finite refractive index, so-called, transparent obstacles. For each type of obstacles two formulae which yield …
This paper gives a remark on the Enclosure Method by considering inverse obstacle scattering problems with a single incident wave whose governing equation is given by the Helmholtz equation in two dimensions. It is concerned with the indicator function in the Enclosure Method. The previous indicator function is essentially real-valued since only its absolute value is used. In this paper, another method for the use of the indicator function is introduced. The method employs the logarithmic differential with respect to the independent variable of the indicator function and yields directly the co…
In this paper, a time domain enclosure method for an inverse obstacle scattering problem of electromagnetic wave is introduced. The wave as a solution of Maxwell's equations is generated by an applied volumetric current having an {\it orientation} and supported outside an unknown obstacle and observed on the same support over a finite time interval. It is assumed that the obstacle is a perfect conductor. Two types of analytical formulae which employ a {\it single} observed wave and explicitly contain information about the geometry of the obstacle are given. In particular, an effect of the orie…
This paper considers an inverse problem for the classical wave equation in an exterior domain. It is a mathematical interpretation of an inverse obstacle problem which employs the dynamical scattering data of acoustic wave over a finite time interval. It is assumed that the wave satisfies a Robin type boundary condition with an unknown variable coefficient. The wave is generated by the initial data localized outside the obstacle and observed over a finite time interval at the same place as the support of the initial data. It is already known that, using the enclosure method, one can extract th…
We present a reconstruction algorithm for recovering both "magnetic-hard" and "magnetic-soft" obstacles in a background domain with known isotropic medium from the boundary impedance map. We use in our algorithm complex geometric optics solutions constructed for Maxwell's equation.
An inverse obstacle scattering problem for the wave governed by the Maxwell system in the time domain, in particular, over a finite time interval is considered. It is assumed that the electric field $\mbox{\boldmath $E$}$ and magnetic field $\mbox{\boldmath $H$}$ which are solutions of the Maxwell system are generated only by a current density at the initial time located not far a way from an unknown obstacle. The obstacle is embedded in a medium like air which has constant electric permittivity $ε$ and magnetic permeability $μ$. It is assumed that the fields on the surface of the obstacle sat…
An inverse obstacle problem for the wave equation in a two layered medium is considered. It is assumed that the unknown obstacle is penetrable and embedded in the lower half-space. The wave as a solution of the wave equation is generated by an initial data whose support is in the upper half-space and observed at the same place as the support over a finite time interval. From the observed wave an indicator function in the time domain enclosure method is constructed. It is shown that, one can find some information about the geometry of the obstacle together with the qualitative property in the a…
The wave equation is time-reversal invariant. The enclosure method using a Neumann data generated by this invariance is introduced. The method yields the minimum ball that is centered at a given arbitrary point and encloses an unknown obstacle embedded in a known bounded domain from a single point on the graph of the so-called response operator on the boundary of the domain over a finite time interval. The occurrence of the lacuna in the solution of the free space wave equation is positively used.
A mathematical method for through-wall imaging via wave phenomena in the time domain is introduced. The method makes use of a single reflected wave over a finite time interval and gives us a criterion whether a penetrable obstacle exists or not in a general rough background medium. Moreover, if the obstacle exists, the lower and upper estimates of the distance between the obstacle and the center point of the support of the initial data are given. As an evidence of the potential of the method two applications are also given.
The characterization problem of the existence of an unknown obstacle behind a known obstacle is considered by using a singe observed wave at a place where the wave is generated. The unknown obstacle is invisible from the place by using visible ray. A mathematical formulation of the problem using the classical wave equation is given. The main result consists of two parts: (i) one can make a decision whether the unknown obstacle exists or not behind a known impenetrable obstacle by using a single wave over a finite time interval under some a-priori information on the position of the unknown obst…
This paper is concerned with reconstruction issue of inverse obstacle problems governed by partial differential equations and consists of two parts. (i) The first part considers the foundation of the probe and enclosure methods for an impenetrable obstacle embedded in a medium governed by the stationary Schrödinger equation. Under a general framework, some natural estimates for a quantity computed from a pair of the Dirichlet and Neumann data on the outer surface of the body occupied by the medium are given. The estimates enables us to derive almost immediately the necessary asymptotic behavio…
Now a final and maybe simplest formulation of the enclosure method applied to inverse obstacle problems governed by partial differential equations in a {\it spacial domain with an outer boundary} over a finite time interval is fixed. The method employs only a single pair of a quite natural Neumann data prescribed on the outer boundary and the corresponding Dirichlet data on the same boundary of the solution of the governing equation over a finite time interval, that is a single point on the graph of the so-called {\it response operator}. It is shown that the methods enables us to extract the d…
This paper is concerned with an inverse obstacle problem which employs the dynamical scattering data of acoustic wave over a finite time interval. The unknown obstacle is assumed to be sound-soft one. The governing equation of the wave is given by the classical wave equation. The wave is generated by the initial data localized outside the obstacle and observed over a finite time interval at a place which is not necessary the same as the support of the initial data. The observed data are the so-called bistatic data. In this paper, an enclosure method which employs the bistatic data and is based…
An inverse obstacle problem for the wave governed by the wave equation in a two layered medium is considered under the framework of the time domain enclosure method. The wave is generated by an initial data supported on a closed ball in the upper half-space, and observed on the same ball over a finite time interval. The unknown obstacle is penetrable and embedded in the lower half-space. It is assumed that the propagation speed of the wave in the upper half-space is greater than that of the wave in the lower half-space, which is excluded in the previous study: Ikehata and Kawashita (2018) to a…
An inverse obstacle scattering problem for the electromagnetic wave governed by the Maxwell system over a finite time interval is considered. It is assumed that the wave satisfies the Leontovich boundary condition on the surface of an unknown obstacle. The condition is described by using an unknown positive function on the surface of the obstacle which is called the surface admittance. The wave is generated at the initial time by a volumetric current source supported on a very small ball placed outside the obstacle and only the electric component of the wave is observed on the same ball over a…
This paper is concerned with a new type of inverse obstacle problem governed by a variable-order time-fraction diffusion equation in a bounded domain. The unknown obstacle is a region where the space dependent variable-order of fractional time derivative of the governing equation deviates from a known homogeneous background one. The observation data is given by the Neumann data of the solution of the governing equation for a specially designed Dirichlet data. Under a suitable jump condition on the deviation, it is shown that the most recent version of the time domain enclosure method enables o…
A simple idea of finding a domain that encloses an unknown discontinuity embedded in a body is introduced by considering an inverse boundary value problem for the heat equation. The idea gives a design of a special heat flux on the surface of the body such that from the corresponding temperature field on the surface one can extract the smallest radius of the sphere centered at an arbitrary given point in the whole space and enclosing unknown inclusions. Unlike before, the designed flux is free from a large parameter. An application of the idea to a coupled system of the elastic wave and heat e…
An inverse problem for the wave equation outside an obstacle with a {\it dissipative boundary condition} is considered. The observed data are given by a single solution of the wave equation generated by an initial data supported on an open ball. An explicit analytical formula for the computation of the coefficient at a point on the surface of the obstacle which is nearest to the center of the support of the initial data is given.
This paper gives applications of the enclosure method introduced by the author to typical inverse obstacle and crack scattering problems in two dimensions. Explicit extraction formulae of the convex hull of unknown polygonal sound-hard obstacles and piecewise linear cracks from the far field pattern of the scattered field at a fixed wave number and at most two incident directions are given. The main new points of this paper are: a combination of the enclosure method and the Herglotz wave function; explicit construction of the density in the Herglotz wave function by using the idea of the Vekua…
We study the enclosure method for the p-Calderón problem, which is a nonlinear generalization of the inverse conductivity problem due to Calderón that involves the p-Laplace equation. The method allows one to reconstruct the convex hull of an inclusion in the nonlinear model by using exponentially growing solutions introduced by Wolff. We justify this method for the penetrable obstacle case, where the inclusion is modelled as a jump in the conductivity. The result is based on a monotonicity inequality and the properties of the Wolff solutions.
The enclosure method was originally introduced for inverse problems of concerning non-destructive evaluation governed by elliptic equations. It was developed as one of useful approaches in inverse problems and applied for various equations. In this paper, an application of the enclosure method to an inverse initial boundary value problem for a parabolic equation with a discontinuous coefficient is given. A simple method to extract the depth of unknown inclusions in a heat conductive body from a single set of the temperature and heat flux on the boundary observed over a finite time interval is …
An inverse boundary value problem for the Helmholtz equation in a bounded domain is considered. The problem is to extract information about an unknown obstacle embedded in the domain with unknown impedance boundary condition (the Robin condition) from the associated Dirichlet-to-Neumann map. The main result is a characterization of the unknown obstacle via the sequences that are constructed by the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map, under smallness conditions on the wave number and the upper bound of the impedance. Moreover two alternative simple proofs of a previous result of Cheng-Liu-Nakamura which a…
The heat equation does not have time-reversal invariance. However, using a solution of an associated wave equation which has time-reversal invariance, one can establish an explicit extraction formula of the minimum sphere that is centered at an arbitrary given point and encloses an unknown cavity inside a heat conductive body. The data employed in the formula consist of a special heat flux depending on a large parameter prescribed on the surface of the body over an arbitrary fixed finite time interval and the corresponding temperature field. The heat flux never blows up as the parameter tends …
The extraction problem of information about the location and shape of the cavity from a single set of the temperature and heat flux on the boundary of the conductor and finite time interval is a typical and important inverse problem. Its one space dimensional version is considered. It is shown that the enclosure method developed by the author for elliptic equations yields the extraction formula of a quantity which can be interpreted as the {\it travel time} of a {\it virtual} signal with an arbitrary fixed propagation speed that starts at the known boundary and the initial time, reflects at an…
A mathematical formulation of an estimation problem of a cavity inside a three-dimensional thermoelastic body using time domain data is considered. The governing equation of the problem is given by a system of equations in the linear theory of thermoelasticity which is a coupled system of the elastic wave and heat equations. A new version of the enclosure method in the time domain which is originally developed for the classical wave equation is established. For a comparison, the results in the decoupled case are also given.
We deal with the problem of reconstructing interfaces using complex geometrical optics solutions for the Maxwell system. The contributions are twofold. First, we justify the enclosure method for the impenetrable obstacle case avoiding any assumption on the directions of the phases of the CGO's (or the curvature of obstacle's surface). In addition, we need only a Lipschitz regularity of this surface. The analysis is based on some fine properties of the corresponding layer potentials in appropriate Sobolev spaces. Second, we justify this method also for the penetrable case, where the interface i…
This paper is concerned with reconstruction issue of some typical inverse problems and consists of three parts. First a framework of the enclosure method for an inverse source problem governed by the Helmholtz equation at a fixed wave number in three dimensions is introduced. It is based on the nonvanishing of the coefficient of the leading profile of an oscillatory integral over a domain having a conical singularity. Second an explicit formula of the coefficient for a domain having a circular cone singularity and its implication under the framework are given. Third, an application under the f…
In this article, we consider the focusing cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation(NLS) in the exterior domain outside of a convex obstacle in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with Dirichlet boundary conditions. We revisit the scattering result below ground state of Killip-Visan-Zhang by utilizing Dodson and Murphy's argument and the dispersive estimate established by Ivanovici and Lebeau, which avoids using the concentration compactness. We conquer the difficulty of the boundary in the focusing case by establishing a local smoothing effect of the boundary. Based on this effect and the interaction Morawetz estimate…
In this paper, we are concerned with the inverse electromagnetic scattering problem of recovering a complex scatterer by the corresponding electric far-field data. The complex scatterer consists of an inhomogeneous medium and a possibly embedded perfectly electric conducting (PEC) obstacle. The far-field data are collected corresponding to incident plane waves with a fixed incident direction and a fixed polarisation, but frequencies from an open interval. It is shown that the embedded obstacle can be uniquely recovered by the aforementioned far-field data, independent of the surrounding medium…
We consider an inverse acoustic scattering problem in simultaneously recovering an embedded obstacle and its surrounding inhomogeneous medium by formally determined far-field data. It is shown that the knowledge of the scattering amplitude with a fixed incident direction and all observation angles along with frequencies from an open interval can be used to uniquely identify the embedded obstacle, sound-soft or sound-hard disregarding the surrounding medium. Furthermore, if the surrounding inhomogeneous medium is from an admissible class (still general), then the medium can be recovered as well…
Consider the scattering of an acoustic plane wave by a bounded elastic obstacle which is immersed in an open space filled with a homogeneous medium. This paper concerns the mathematical analysis of the coupled two- and three-dimensional acoustic-elastic wave propagation problem in the time-domain. A compressed coordinate transformation is proposed to reduce equivalently the scattering problem into an initial-boundary value problem in a bounded domain over a finite time interval. The reduced problem is shown to have a unique weak solution by using the Galerkin method. The stability estimate and…
This paper is dedicated to design a direct sampling method of inverse electromagnetic scattering problems, which uses multi-frequency sparse backscattering far field data for reconstructing the boundary of perfectly conducting obstacles. We show that a smallest strip containing the unknown object can be approximately determined by the multi-frequency backscattering far field data at two opposite observation directions. The proof is based on the Kirchhoff approximation and Fourier transform. Such a strip is then reconstructed by an indicator, which is the absolute value of an integral of the pr…
In this work we investigate regularity properties of a large class of Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equations with or without obstacles, which can be stochastically interpreted in form of a stochastic control system which nonlinear cost functional is defined with the help of a backward stochastic differential equation (BSDE) or a reflected BSDE (RBSDE). More precisely, we prove that, firstly, the unique viscosity solution $V(t,x)$ of such a HJB equation over the time interval $[0,T],$ with or without an obstacle, and with terminal condition at time $T$, is jointly Lipschitz in $(t,x)$, for $t$…
In this paper, we study the focusing and defocusing energy--subcritical, nonlinear wave equation in $\mathbb{R}^{1+d}$ with radial initial data for $d = 4,5$. We prove that if a solution remains bounded in the critical space on its interval of existence, then the solution exists globally and scatters at $\pm \infty$. The proof follows the concentration compactness/rigidity method initiated by Kenig and Merle, and the main obstacle is to show the nonexistence of nonzero solutions with a certain compactness property. A main novelty of this work is the use of a simple virial argument to rule out …
