Photo-acoustic and Thermo-acoustic Tomography in an Inhomogeneous Medium

Abstract

Photo-acoustic and Thermo-acoustic tomography are hybrid medical imaging modalities where optical waves or electromagnetic waves and ultrasound waves are coupled. The propagation of ultrasound waves is typically modeled as an inverse source problem for the acoustic wave equation. In this talk, the speaker will discuss the inverse source problem in an inhomogeneous medium where the wave speed is variable. Two types of measurement are to be considered: one from pointwise detectors while the other from large planar detectors. The speaker will prove uniqueness and stability on the recovery of the source, and give reconstruction procedures for the source or its singularities. This is based on joint work with Plamen Stefanov.

About the speaker

Prof. Yang Yang received his BS from Zhejiang University in 2009 and his PhD from the University of Washington in 2014. He is currently the Golomb Visiting Assistant Professor at the Department of Mathematics in Purdue University.

Prof. Yang’s research focuses on inverse problems arising in medical imaging and geophysical imaging with connections to mathematical physics and relativity theory. The involved mathematics includes partial differential equation theory, functional analysis, microlocal analysis, Riemannian and Lorentzian geometry, and numerical simulations using programming software.

About the program

For more information, please refer to the program website http://iasprogram.ust.hk/inverseproblems for details.