This paper aims to mathematically advance the field of quantitative thermo-acoustic imaging. Given several electromagnetic data sets, we establish for the first time an analytical formula for reconstructing the absorption coefficient from thermal energy measurements. Since the formula involves derivatives of the given data up to the third order, it is unstable in the sense that small measurement noises may cause large errors. However, in the presence of measurement noise, the obtained formula, together with a noise regularization technique, provides a good initial guess for the true absorption coefficient. We finally correct the errors by deriving a reconstruction formula based on the least square solution of an optimal control problem and prove that this optimization step reduces the errors occurring and enhances the resolution.

The Boltzmann H-theorem implies that the solution to the Boltzmann equation tends to an equilibrium, that is, a Maxwellian when time tends to infinity. This has been proved in varies settings when the initial energy is finite. However, when the initial energy is infinite, the time asymptotic state is no longer described by a Maxwellian, but a self-similar solution obtained by Bobylev-Cercignani. The purpose of this paper is to rigorously justify this for the spatially homogeneous problem with Maxwellian molecule type cross section without angular cutoff.

In the present paper, we consider the initial value problem for the bipolar Vlasov-Poisson-Boltzmann (bVPB) system and its corresponding modified Vlasov-Poisson-Boltzmann (mVPB). We give the spectrum analysis on the linearized bVPB and mVPB systems around their equilibrium state and show the optimal convergence rate of global solutions. It was showed that the electric field decays exponentially and the distribution function tends to the absolute Maxwellian at the optimal convergence rate (1+ t)^{-3/4} for the bVPB system, yet both the electric field and the distribution function converge to equilibrium state at the optimal rate (1+ t)^{-3/4} for the mVPB system.

We consider the theory of correctors to homogenization in stationary transport equations with rapidly oscillating, random coefficients. Let ε << 1 be the ratio of the correlation length in the random medium to the overall distance of propagation. As ε↓0, we show that the heterogeneous transport solution is well-approximated by a homogeneous transport solution. We then show that the rescaled corrector converges in (probability) distribution and weakly in the space and velocity variables, to a Gaussian process as an application of a central limit result. The latter result requires strong assumptions on the statistical structure of randomness and is proved for random processes constructed by means of a Poisson point process.

Under the diffusion scaling and a scaling assumption on the microscopic component, a non-classical fluid dynamic system was derived in\cite {BGLY} that is related to the system of ghost effect derived in\cite {Sone-2} in different settings. This paper aims to justify this limit system for a non-trivial background profile with slab symmetry. The result reveals not only the diffusion phenomena in the temperature and density, but also the flow of higher order in Knudsen number due to the gradient of the temperature. Precisely, we show that the solution to the Boltzmann equation converges to a diffusion wave with decay rates in both Knudsen number and time.