Point sources identification problems with pointwise overdetermination

Abstract

This article is devoted to inverse problems of recovering point sources in mathematical models of heat and mass transfer. The main attention is paid to well-posedness questions of these inverse problems with pointwise overdetermination conditions. We present conditions for existence and uniqueness of solutions to the problem, display non-uniqueness examples, and, in model situations, we give estimates on the number of measurements that allow completely identify sources and their locations. The results rely on asymptotic representations of Green functions of the corresponding elliptic problems with a parameter. They can be used in constructing new numerical algorithms for determining a solution.