Solving an inverse problem for an elliptic equation using a Fourier-sine series.

Sammanfattning: This work is about solving an inverse problem for an elliptic equation. An inverse problem is often ill-posed, which means that a small measurement error in data can yield a vigorously perturbed solution. Regularization is a way to make an ill-posed problem well-posed and thus solvable. Two important tools to determine if a problem is well-posed or not are norms and convergence. With help from these concepts, the error of the reg- ularized function can be calculated. The error between this function and the exact function is depending on two error terms. By solving the problem with an elliptic equation, a linear operator is eval- uated. This operator maps a given function to another function, which both can be found in the solution of the problem with an elliptic equation. This opera- tor can be seen as a mapping from the given function’s Fourier-sine coefficients onto the other function’s Fourier-sine coefficients, since these functions are com- pletely determined by their Fourier-sine series. The regularization method in this thesis, uses a chosen number of Fourier-sine coefficients of the function, and the rest are set to zero. This regularization method is first illustrated for a simpler problem with Laplace’s equation, which can be solved analytically and thereby an explicit parameter choice rule can be given. The goal with this work is to show that the considered method is a reg- ularization of a linear operator, that is evaluated when the problem with an elliptic equation is solved. In the tests in Chapter 3 and 4, the ill-posedness of the inverse problem is illustrated and that the method does behave like a regularization is shown. Also in the tests, it can be seen how many Fourier-sine coefficients that should be considered in the regularization in different cases, to make a good approximation.