A generalized quasi-boundary value method for recovering a source in a fractional diffusion-wave equation

This paper is devoted to identifying a space-dependent source in a time-fractional diffusion-wave equation by using the final time data. By the series expression of the solution of the direct problem, the inverse source problem can be formulated by a first kind of Fredholm integral equation. The existence and uniqueness, ill-posedness and a conditional stability in Hilbert scale for the considered inverse problem are provided. We propose a generalized quasi-boundary value regularization method to solve the inverse source problem and also prove that the regularized problem is well-posed. Further, two kinds of convergence rates in Hilbert scale for the regularized solution can be obtained by using an a priori and an a posteriori regularization parameter choice rule, respectively. The numerical examples in one-dimensional case and two-dimensional case are given to confirm our theoretical results for the constant coefficients problem. We also propose a finite difference method based on a variant of L1 scheme to solve the regularized problem for the variable coefficients problem and give its convergence rate. One finite difference method based on a convolution quadrature is provided to solve the regularized problem for comparison. The numerical results for three examples by two algorithms are provided to show the effectiveness and stability of the proposed algorithms.

Automated summary

This paper investigates the problem of identifying a space-dependent source in a time-fractional diffusion-wave equation using final time data. The inverse source problem is formulated using a first kind of Fredholm integral equation and solved using a generalized quasi-boundary value regularization method. The effectiveness and stability of the proposed algorithms are demonstrated through numerical examples.