Inverse boundary value problems for certain doubly nonlinear parabolic and elliptic equations

Abstract

We consider an inverse boundary value problem for the doubly nonlinear parabolic equation \[ \epsilon(x)\partial_t u^m-\nabla\cdot\bigl(\gamma(x)|\nabla u|^{p-2}\nabla u\bigr)=0 \quad\text{in }(0,T)\times\Omega, \] where $p\in(1,\infty)\setminus\{2\}$, $m>0$, and the coefficients $\epsilon$ and $\gamma$ are positive. Our first main result shows that when $m>p-1$, the lateral Cauchy data determine both coefficients. The proof proceeds by reducing the parabolic inverse problem to an inverse problem for the nonlinear elliptic equation \[ -\nabla\cdot\bigl(\gamma|\nabla w|^{p-2}\nabla w\bigr)+Vw^m=0 \quad\text{in }\Omega. \] Our second main result establishes uniqueness for the pair $(\gamma,V)$ from the nonlinear Dirichlet-to-Neumann map of this elliptic equation. The argument has two steps. First, asymptotic expansions of the elliptic Dirichlet-to-Neumann map recover the weighted $p$-Laplacian Dirichlet-to-Neumann map, and and from it the coefficient $\gamma$. Second, once $\gamma$ is known, linearization at a noncritical background solution yields recovery of $V$. In dimension two we work under a simply connectedness assumption on the domain, while in dimensions $n\ge 3$ we assume that the conductivity is invariant in one known direction.