An Abstract Framework for Elliptic Inverse Problems: Part 1. An Output Least-Squares Approach

Abstract

The solution of an elliptic boundary value problem is an infinitely differentiable function of the coefficient in the partial differential equation. When the (coefficient-dependent) energy norm is used, the result is a smooth, convex output least-squares functional. Using total variation regularization, it is possible to estimate discontinuous coefficients from interior measurements. The minimization problem is guaranteed to have a solution, which can be obtained in the limit from finite-dimensional discretizations of the problem. These properties hold in an abstract framework that encompasses several interesting problems: the standard (scalar) elliptic BVP in divergence form, the system of isotropic elasticity, and others.