Uniqueness and stability of Lamé parameters in elastography (Q2018376)

The inverse problem of (isotropic) elasticity is to recover the Lamé parameters, usually denoted \(\mu\) and \(\lambda\), from measured data. Hybrid methods aim for high resolution and high contrast by combining methods which perform well at one criterion but less so at the other. Transient Elastography (TE) is such a hybrid method. In a first step, displacement fields in the interior of the body are recovered by a high-resolution method such as ultrasound. The author deals with the second step of recovering \(\mu\) and \(\lambda\) from a sufficiently large supply of displacement fields. The main result, stated and proved for two and three space dimensions separately, is that unique recovery is possible if the displacement fields are known for a well-chosen open set of boundary values. Moreover, it is shown that the Lamé parameter depends continuously on the data. The proofs use the special structure of the isotropic elastic system and the standard technique of complex geometrical optics solutions. For a scalar model, the hybrid TE method was developed in [\textit{G. Bal} and \textit{G. Uhlmann}, Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 66, No. 10, 1629--1652 (2013; Zbl 1273.35308)].