Rigidity in fixed angle inverse scattering for Riemannian metrics

Abstract

The fixed angle inverse scattering problem for a velocity consists in determining a sound speed, or a Riemannian metric up to diffeomorphism, from measurements obtained by probing the medium with a single plane wave. This is a formally determined inverse problem that is open in general. In this article we consider the rigidity question of distinguishing a sound speed or a Riemannian metric from the Euclidean metric. We prove that a general smooth metric that is Euclidean outside a ball can be distinguished from the Euclidean metric. The methods involve distorted plane waves and a combination of geometric, topological and unique continuation arguments.