Inverse kinematic problem and boundary rigidity of Riemannian surfaces

Victor Palamodov

Published 2012-02-24, updated 2012-06-03Version 4

Given a compact manifold with boundary with unknown Riemannian metric. The problem is to reconstruct the metric in a class of conformal metrics from knowledge of lengths of all closed geodesics (kinematic data). An integral inequality is stated which implies uniqueness and stability for this problem. If the conformal class is not known a unique reconstruction is not possible since of shortage of information. It is proved that the list of all geodesic lengths is sufficient for unique determination of a Riemannian metric in a compact surface with boundary up to an automorphism which fix the boundary. Some related problems of integral geometry are studied. Key words: Geodesic curve, Travel-time, Conjugate point, Geodesic flow, Hodograph, Geodesic integral transform.