Inverse problems of the wave equation for media with mixed but separated
heterogeneous parts
Abstract
In this article, the inverse problems for the wave equation in a medium
in which multiple types of cavities and inclusion exist in a mixture are
considered. From the point of view of the indicator function of the
enclosure method, there are two types of heterogeneous parts:“minus
group” and “plus group”. For example, cavities with the Dirichlet
boundary condition belong to the minus group, while inclusions with
smaller propagation velocity belong to the plus group. The heterogeneous
part of the minus group gives a negative sign to the indicator function,
and the heterogeneous part of the plus group gives a positive sign. In
general, the presence of many types of heterogeneous parts causes
cancellation of the sign of the indicator function. Such cases are
referred to as “mixed cases”. Here we consider the case that the
shortest length obtained from the indicator function is attained only by
heterogeneous parts of the same group. This case is called the “mixed
but separated case” and it is shown that the method of elliptic
estimates developed by Ikehata works well. We also show that the case of
a two-layered background medium with a flat layer can be considered in
the same way as the case of a homogeneous background medium.