Inverse boundary value problems for partial differential equations (Q1126797)

The author, one of the leading world experts in inverse problems, reviews recent achievements in the inverse conductivity problem with many boundary measurements based on the methods of complex geometrical optics first introduced in inverse problems by J. Sylvester and G. Uhlmann in 1986. Since their fundamental breakthrough the area was developing quite fast. The author describes interesting global uniqueness results of himself, G. Nakamura, Z. Sun, and C. Tolmasky on the first order perturbations of the Laplacian and their applications to the Lamé system and of P. Ola, L. Paivarinta and E. Somersalo on the Maxwell's system in the three-dimensional case , the new technique of complex analysis introduced by A. Nachman to prove global uniqueness in (non)overdetermined two-dimensional inverse conductivity problems and further results of G. Alessandrini, P. Hahner, the reviewer, R. Kohn and M. Vogelius, R. Novikov, and other mathematicians. He also formulates several outstanding open questions. This survey very well explaines the current state of a rapidly developing branch of inverse problems. To complement it one can go through the reviewer's book ``Inverse problems for PDE'' (Springer, New York, 1998).