Inverse Problems Group

The forward problem corresponding an inverse problem is usually a well defined problem in mathematical physics. What is inverted in inverse problem is the causality, that is, as in a forward problem we start from the causes and end up with the results in an inverse problem we start with partial knowledge of the causes and the result and infer more about the causes. For example, in direct scattering we know the incoming wave and the scatterer and calculate the scattered wave. In inverse scattering we know some amount of incoming waves and the corresponding scattered waves and deduce some properties of the scatterer (e.g. the shape or number of components).

Examples of inverse problems, in addition to the above mentioned inverse scattering, are the inverse conductivity, elasticity and diffusion problems. These have applications in the research of the ionosphere and in various medical imaging methods, namely acoustic, electric impedance and X-ray tomographies, among others.

Our research groups main interests are in the following mathematical classes of inverse problems

• Inverse boundary value problems
• Inverse spectral problems
• Inverse scattering

Contact Information

Lassi Päivärinta
P.O. Box 68
FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
Email: lassi.paivarinta@rni.helsinki.fi

tel ?
fax ?

Index | Publications |Staff