Momentum ray transforms (Q2003060)

The moment ray transform \(I^k\) integrates a rank-\(m\) symmetric tensor field \(f\) over lines in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), using the weight \(t^k\). The lines are parameterized as \(x + t \xi\), where \(|\xi|=1\) is the direction, \(x \in \xi^\perp\) and \(t \in \mathbb{R}\). \(I^0 = I\) is the usual ray transform. For \(m \ge 1\), only the solenoidal part of \(f\) can be recovered from \(I^0 f\), but \((I^0 f, I^1 f, \ldots, I^m f)\) determines all of \(f\) uniquely. This paper provides an algorithm for the inversion. In the cases \(m = 1\) and \(m = 2\), the authors also derive the Reshetnyak formula that expresses \(\|f\|_{H_t^s(\mathbb{R}^n)}\) in terms of some norms on \((I^0 f, I^1 f, \ldots, I^m f)\), and obtain a stability estimate from this. Here, the \(H_t^s\)-norm is a modification of the Sobolev norm weighted differently at high and low frequencies.