On the identification of the adiabatic equation of state in compressible gas flow (Q1109641)

The inverse problem of determining the coefficient in the differential equation \(\nabla (\rho \nabla \phi)=0\), \(\rho =\rho (| \nabla \phi |)\) is considered. The underlying idea is demonstrated by a consideration of gas dynamics. An appropriate formulation of the problem yields an explicit solution.