Research article Special Issues

Inverse problems for subdiffusion equations and approximation results

  • Published: 30 July 2026
  • MSC : 35B40, 35K20, 35R11, 35R30, 47B25, 47D06

  • The aim of this paper is to investigate time-fractional inverse problems involving a self-adjoint operator $ A $ and their approximations. We prove existence and uniqueness results for the solution of the inverse problem consisting of the identification of a single constant conductivity, under overdeterminating conditions of energy type. Then we study their approximations in terms of suitable inverse problems via the Mosco convergence of the associated energies. Some applications to boundary value problems are also presented.

    Citation: Simone Creo, Maria Rosaria Lancia, Gianluca Mola, Silvia Romanelli. Inverse problems for subdiffusion equations and approximation results[J]. AIMS Mathematics, 2026, 11(7): 23173-23198. doi: 10.3934/math.2026934

    Related Papers:

  • The aim of this paper is to investigate time-fractional inverse problems involving a self-adjoint operator $ A $ and their approximations. We prove existence and uniqueness results for the solution of the inverse problem consisting of the identification of a single constant conductivity, under overdeterminating conditions of energy type. Then we study their approximations in terms of suitable inverse problems via the Mosco convergence of the associated energies. Some applications to boundary value problems are also presented.



    加载中


    [1] R. A. Adams, Sobolev spaces, New York: Academic Press, 1975.
    [2] H. Attouch, Variational convergence for functions and operators, Boston: Pitman Advanced Publishing Program, 1984.
    [3] C. Baiocchi, A. Capelo, Variational and quasivariational inequalities: Applications to free-boundary value problems, New York: Wiley, 1984.
    [4] E. Barvínek, I. Daler, J. Franců, Convergence of sequences of inverse functions, Arch. Math., 27 (1991), 201–204.
    [5] E. G. Bazhlekova, Fractional evolution equations in Banach spaces, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, 2001. https://doi.org/10.6100/IR549476
    [6] H. Brezis, Analyse fonctionnelle, théorie et applications, Paris: Masson, 1983.
    [7] F. Brezzi, G. Gilardi, Fundamentals of PDEs for numerical analysis, In: Finite Element Handbook, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1987.
    [8] R. Capitanelli, S. Creo, M. R. Lancia, Asymptotics for time-fractional Venttsel' problems in fractal domains, Fractal Fract., 7 (2023), 479. https://doi.org/10.3390/fractalfract7060479 doi: 10.3390/fractalfract7060479
    [9] M. Caputo, Linear models of dissipation whose $Q$ is almost frequency independent Ⅱ, Geophys. J. Int., 13 (1967), 529–539. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.1967.tb02303.x doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.1967.tb02303.x
    [10] J. Cheng, J. Nakagawa, M. Yamamoto, T. Yamazaki, Uniqueness in an inverse problem for a one-dimensional fractional diffusion equation, Inverse Probl., 25 (2009), 115002. https://doi.org/10.1088/0266-5611/25/11/115002 doi: 10.1088/0266-5611/25/11/115002
    [11] S. Creo, M. R. Lancia, A. Mola, G. Mola, S. Romanelli, Identification problems for anisotropic time-fractional subdiffusion equations, Inverse Probl., 42 (2026), 045013. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6420/ae5085 doi: 10.1088/1361-6420/ae5085
    [12] S. Creo, M. R. Lancia, G. Mola, S. Romanelli, Inverse problems in irregular domains: Approximation via Mosco convergence, Contemp. Math., 828 (2025), 41–60. https://doi.org/10.1090/conm/828/16593 doi: 10.1090/conm/828/16593
    [13] K. Diethelm, The analysis of fractional differential equations: An application-oriented exposition using differential operators of Caputo type, Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14574-2
    [14] D. K. Durdiev, J. J. Jumaev, H. H. Turdiev, Inverse problem for determining time dependent coefficient and source functions in a time-fractional diffusion equation, J. Math. Sci., 289 (2025), 475–486. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10958-024-07204-y doi: 10.1007/s10958-024-07204-y
    [15] K. Falconer, The geometry of fractal sets, Cambridge University Press, 1990. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511623738
    [16] G. Floridia, F. Golgeleyen, M. Yamamoto, Initial boundary value problems for time-fractional evolution equations in Banach spaces, 2025. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2502.06554
    [17] U. Freiberg, M. R. Lancia, Energy form on a closed fractal curve, Z. Anal. Anwend., 23 (2004), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.4171/ZAA/1190 doi: 10.4171/ZAA/1190
    [18] M. Fukushima, Y. Oshima, M. Takeda, Dirichlet forms and symmetric Markov processes, De Gruyter Studies in Mathematics, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1994. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110889741
    [19] C. G. Gal, M. Warma, Fractional-in-time semilinear parabolic equations and applications: Mathématiques et applications, Berlin: Springer, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45043-4
    [20] R. Gorenflo, Y. Luchko, F. Mainardi, Analytical properties and applications of the Wright function, Fract. Calc. Appl. Anal., 2 (1999), 383–414. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.math-ph/0701069 doi: 10.48550/arXiv.math-ph/0701069
    [21] X. Jing, J. Jia, X. Song, Simultaneous uniqueness identification of the fractional order and diffusion coefficient in a time-fractional diffusion equation, Appl. Math. Lett., 162 (2025), 109386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aml.2024.109386 doi: 10.1016/j.aml.2024.109386
    [22] A. Jonsson, H. Wallin, Function spaces on subsets of $\mathbb{R}^n$, London: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1984.
    [23] B. Kaltenbacher, W. Rundell, Inverse problems for fractional partial differential equations, American Mathematical Society, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1090/gsm/230
    [24] T. Kato, Perturbation theory for linear operators, New York: Springer-Verlag, 1995. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-66282-9
    [25] A. Kawamoto, M. Machida, M. Yamamoto, Homogenization and inverse problems for fractional diffusion equations, Fract. Calc. Appl. Anal., 26 (2023), 2118–2165. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13540-023-00195-8 doi: 10.1007/s13540-023-00195-8
    [26] A. Kubica, K. Ryszewska, M. Yamamoto, Time-fractional differential equations: A theoretical introduction, Singapore: Springer, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9066-5
    [27] K. Kuwae, T. Shioya, Convergence of spectral structures: A functional analytic theory and its applications to spectral geometry, Commun. Anal. Geom., 11 (2003), 599–673. https://doi.org/10.4310/CAG.2003.v11.n4.a1 doi: 10.4310/CAG.2003.v11.n4.a1
    [28] M. R. Lancia, A transmission problem with a fractal interface, Z. Anal. Anwend., 21 (2002), 113–133.
    [29] M. R. Lancia, P. Vernole, Convergence results for parabolic transmission problems across highly conductive layers with small capacity, Adv. Math. Sci. Appl., 16 (2006), 411–445.
    [30] M. R. Lancia, M. A. Vivaldi, Asymptotic convergence of transmission energy forms, Adv. Math. Sci. Appl., 13 (2003), 315–341.
    [31] G. Mola, Identification of the diffusion coefficient in linear evolution equations in Hilbert spaces, J. Abstr. Differ. Equ. Appl., 2 (2011), 14–28.
    [32] G. Mola, N. Okazawa, J. Prüss, T. Yokota, Semigroup-theoretic approach to identification of linear diffusion coefficients, Discrete Cont. Dyn. S, 9 (2016), 777–790. https://doi.org/10.3934/dcdss.2016028 doi: 10.3934/dcdss.2016028
    [33] U. Mosco, Convergence of convex sets and solutions of variational inequalities, Adv. Math., 3 (1969), 510–585. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-8708(69)90009-7 doi: 10.1016/0001-8708(69)90009-7
    [34] U. Mosco, Composite media and asymptotic Dirichlet forms, J. Funct. Anal., 123 (1994), 368–421. https://doi.org/10.1006/jfan.1994.1093 doi: 10.1006/jfan.1994.1093
    [35] J. Nečas, Les méthodes directes en théorie des équations elliptiques, Paris: Masson, 1967.
    [36] A. Pazy, Semigroups of linear operators and applications to partial differential equations, New York: Springer-Verlag, 1983. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5561-1
    [37] Y. Qiao, X. Xiong, J. Han, A variational approach to recover the unknown source and initial condition for a time-space fractional diffusion equation, J. Appl. Math. Comput., 71 (2025), 3445–3476. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12190-025-02369-4 doi: 10.1007/s12190-025-02369-4
    [38] D. Serikbaev, M. Ruzhansky, N. Tokmagambetov, Inverse problem of determining time-dependent leading coefficient in the time-fractional heat equation, Fract. Calc. Appl. Anal., 28 (2025), 2918–2968. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13540-025-00459-5 doi: 10.1007/s13540-025-00459-5
    [39] R. E. Showalter, Hilbert space methods for partial differential equations, Monographs and Studies in Mathematics, London: Pitman, 1977.
    [40] E. M. Wright, The generalized Bessel function of order greater than one, Q. J. Math., 11 (1940), 36–48. https://doi.org/10.1093/qmath/os-11.1.36 doi: 10.1093/qmath/os-11.1.36
  • Reader Comments
  • © 2026 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com
  • 1. 

    沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院 沈阳 110142

  1. 本站搜索
  2. 百度学术搜索
  3. 万方数据库搜索
  4. CNKI搜索

Metrics

Article views(234) PDF downloads(17) Cited by(0)

Article outline

Figures and Tables

Figures(1)

/

DownLoad:  Full-Size Img  PowerPoint
Return
Return

Catalog