The vertical slice transform on the unit sphere (Q2175762)

The vertical slice transform in spherical integral geometry takes a function on the unit sphere \(S^n\) to integrals of that function over spherical slices parallel to the last coordinate axis. This transform has been considered in connection with inverse problems of spherical tomography [\textit{Y. A. Antipov} et al., J. Anal. Math. 118, No. 2, 623--656 (2012; Zbl 1276.44002); \textit{D. Finch} et al., SIAM J. Appl. Math. 68, No. 2, 392--412 (2007; Zbl 1159.35073)]. This paper is a survey of some known results for the Radon transform in the context of their application to the study of a defined operator. The author extends the projection argument to all \(n\geq 2\), derives new inversion formulas and investigates the corresponding singular value decompositions. There are a number of diverse Radon inversion methods see, e.g., [\textit{B. Rubin}, Introduction to Radon transforms. With elements of fractional calculus and harmonic analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2015; Zbl 1333.44002)], the author has selected only those which work well for functions supported just in the unit ball, not necessarily in the entire space, and are applicable to smooth and general Lebesgue integrable functions. An alternative inversion method for \(V f\) is given. This method relies on analytic continuation of the corresponding spherical means.