Stable determination of a semilinear term in a parabolic equation (Q2474759)

Let \(\Omega\subset\mathbb R^n\) be a bounded and \(C^\infty\)-smooth domain and consider the following initial-boundary value problem \[ \begin{cases} \Delta u-\partial_tu=f(u) & \text{in}\;\Omega\times(0,T),\\ u(\cdot,0)=0 & \text{in}\;\Omega,\\ u=\varphi & \text{on}\;\partial\Omega\times(0,T), \end{cases} \] where \(\varphi\in C^{2+\alpha,1+\alpha/2}(\partial\Omega\times[0,T]),\) \(\varphi\geq0,\) \(\varphi(\cdot,0)=0,\) \(\varphi\not\equiv0.\) For each nonnegative and nondecreasing function \(f\in C^1(\mathbb R)\) such that \(f(0)=0,\) set \(u_f\in C^{2+\alpha,1+\alpha/2}(\overline\Omega\times[0,T])\) for the unique solution of the above problem. The paper deals with an inverse problem consisting in determination of the semilinear term \(f\) from Neumann boundary data \(\partial_\nu u_f.\) Precisely, stability estimates for that inverse problem are discussed.