Observability of the electropotential on a nested cylindrical domain. I: The continuous solution (Q809010)

This paper deals with a simplified model of the inverse electrocardiological problem: one would like to estimate the electropotential on the epicardial surface from discrete measurements on the torso. An idealized semi-infinite nested cylindrical domain is used: the domain is defined in cylindrical coordinates by: \(1\leq r\leq a\), - \(\pi\leq \Phi \leq \pi\), \(z\geq 0\), where \(r=1\) represents the heart surface and \(r=a\) the torso. The potential satisfies Laplace's equation. In this first part, the direct problem is studied, that is the Laplace equation with mixed boundary conditions: homogeneous Neuman boundary conditions on \(r=1\) and \(r=a\) and Dirichlet boundary conditions: \[ u(r,\Phi,0)=f(r,\Phi)\text{ on } z=0,\quad \lim_{z\to \infty}u(r,\Phi;z)=0. \] This first part is devoted to the derivation of an analytical solution in the form of generalized Fourier series and to the study of its convergence.