Introduction to the special issue on inverse problems (Q910622)

The present `Special issue on inverse problems' consists of five invited papers, which basically refer to the solution of nonlinear inverse wave scattering problems. So far, the theory of linearized inverse scattering for scalar waves can be derived within a very general framework as the diffraction expansion of Computer Tomography, whereas the ``exact'', and, hence, nonlinear theory, apparently still bears on significantly different approaches, even though some of them utilize the ideas of linear inverse scattering as a starting point (compare the papers by N. Bleistein and A. G. Tijhuis). However, very often, the inverse scattering problem is formulated as an optimization procedure, minimizing the error between the parameters of an appropriate scattering model and the measured data. For certain well-defined situations this can be achieved on a consistent mathematical basis (compare the paper by T. S. Angell et at.), or, for more complex environments, within a more physically oriented framework (compare the paper by Galan-Malaga et al.). On the other hand, an interesting formal approach to exact inverse scattering, originally related to quantum mechanics, is now further evaluated towards a scheme, which appears as a natural expansion of linear Diffraction Computer Tomography towards a quantitative nonlinear theory.