An inverse problem for the relativistic Boltzmann equation (Q2099793)

In the present paper the authors propose a method to determine the unknown metric of a globally hyperbolic Lorentzian spacetime based on an inverse problem for the Boltzmann equation describing nonlinear particle dynamics. The Boltzmann equation includes a collision term, having a kernel which satisfies suitable admissibility conditions, and a source term. Uniqueness and existence of solutions to this Boltzmann equation is proved by the authors. Measurements done in an open neighbourhood with compact closure of a timelike path connecting two points of the spacetime are modelled by means of a source-to-solution map, which maps a source supported in the neighbourhood to the restriction of the solution to the Boltzmann equation to the same neighbourhood. The authors prove that this map uniquely determines the Lorentzian spacetime, up to an isometry. The metric is determined in the intersection of the future of the initial point of the path with the past of the final point. The proof of the result exploits the nonlinearity of the Boltzmann equation as a beneficial feature for solving the inverse problem, by adapting a previously introduced method which is called the higher order linearization method.