Resistor network approaches to electrical impedance tomography

L. Borcea

V. Druskin

F. Guevara Vasquez

A.V. Mamonov

Abstract

arXiv:1107.0343v1 [math-ph] 1 Jul 2011

We review a resistor network approach to the numerical solution of the inverse problem of electrical
impedance tomography (EIT). The networks arise in the context of finite volume discretizations of the
elliptic equation for the electric potential, on sparse and adaptively refined grids that we call optimal.
The name refers to the fact that the grids give spectrally accurate approximations of the Dirichlet to
Neumann map, the data in EIT. The fundamental feature of the optimal grids in inversion is that they
connect the discrete inverse problem for resistor networks to the continuum EIT problem.

Introduction

We consider the inverse problem of electrical impedance tomography (EIT) in two dimensions [11]. It seeks
the scalar valued positive and bounded conductivity (x), the coefficient in the elliptic partial differential
equation for the potential u H 1 (),
[(x)u(x)] = 0,

x .

(1.1)

The domain is a bounded and simply connected set in R2 with smooth boundary B. Because all such

domains are conformally equivalent by the Riemann mapping theorem, we assume throughout that is the
unit disk,
= {x = (r cos , r sin ),

r [0, 1], [0, 2)} .

(1.2)

The EIT problem is to determine (x) from measurements of the Dirichlet to Neumann (DtN) map or
equivalently, the Neumann to Dirichlet map . We consider the full boundary setup, with access to the
entire boundary, and the partial measurement setup, where the measurements are confined to an accessible
subset BA of B, and the remainder BI = B \ BA of the boundary is grounded (u|BI = 0).

The DtN map : H 1/2 (B) H 1/2 (B) takes arbitrary boundary potentials uB in the trace space

H 1/2 (B) to normal boundary currents

uB (x) = (x)n(x) u(x),

Computational

x B,

(1.3)

and Applied Mathematics, Rice University, MS 134, Houston, TX 77005-1892. (borcea@caam.rice.edu)

Doll Research Center, One Hampshire St., Cambridge, MA 02139-1578. (druskin1@slb.com)
Mathematics, University of Utah, 155 S 1400 E RM 233, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0090. (fguevara@math.utah.edu)
Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C0200, Austin,
TX 78712. (mamonov@ices.utexas.edu)
Schlumberger

where n(x) is the outer normal at x B and u(x) solves (1.1) with Dirichlet boundary conditions
u(x) = uB (x),

x B.

(1.4)

Note that has a null space consisting of constant potentials and thus, it is invertible only on a subset J

of H 1/2 (B), defined by


J =

J H 1/2 (B) such that


J(x)ds(x) = 0 .

(1.5)

Its generalized inverse is the NtD map : J H 1/2 (B), which takes boundary currents JB J to
boundary potentials

JB (x) = u(x),

x B.

(1.6)

Here u solves (1.1) with Neumann boundary conditions

(x)n(x) u(x) = JB (x),

x B,

(1.7)

and it is defined up to an additive constant, that can be fixed for example by setting the potential to zero
at one boundary point, as if it were connected to the ground.
It is known that determines uniquely in the full boundary setup [5]. See also the earlier uniqueness
results [56, 18] under some smoothness assumptions on . Uniqueness holds for the partial boundary setup
and  > 0, [39]. The case of real-analytic or piecewise real-analytic is
as well, at least for C 3+ ()

resolved in [27, 28, 45, 46].

However, the problem is exponentially unstable, as shown in [1, 9, 53]. Given two sufficiently regular
conductivities 1 and 2 , the best possible stability estimate is of logarithmic type


k1 2 kL () c log k1 2 kH 1/2 (B),H 1/2 (B)  ,

(1.8)

with some positive constants c and . This means that if we have noisy measurements, we cannot expect
the conductivity to be close to the true one uniformly in , unless the noise is exponentially small.
In practice the noise plays a role and the inversion can be carried out only by imposing some regularization constraints on . Moreover, we have finitely many measurements of the DtN map and we seek
numerical approximations of with finitely many degrees of freedom (parameters). The stability of these
approximations depends on the number of parameters and their distribution in the domain .
It is shown in [2] that if is piecewise constant, with a bounded number of unknown values, then the
stability estimates on are no longer of the form (1.8), but they become of Lipschitz type. However, it is
not really understood how the Lipschitz constant depends on the distribution of the unknowns in . Surely,
it must be easier to determine the features of the conductivity near the boundary than deep inside .
Then, the question is how to parametrize the unknown conductivity in numerical inversion so that we
can control its stability and we do not need excessive regularization with artificial penalties that introduce
artifacts in the results. Adaptive parametrizations for EIT have been considered for example in [43, 50] and
[3, 4]. Here we review our inversion approach that is based on resistor networks that arise in finite volume
discretizations of (1.1) on sparse and adaptively refined grids which we call optimal. The name refers to the
2

fact that they give spectral accuracy of approximations of on finite volume grids. One of their important
features is that they are refined near the boundary, where we make the measurements, and coarse away from
it. Thus they capture the expected loss of resolution of the numerical approximations of .
Optimal grids were introduced in [29, 30, 41, 7, 6] for accurate approximations of the DtN map in forward
problems. Having such approximations is important for example in domain decomposition approaches to
solving second order partial differential equations and systems, because the action of a sub-domain can be
replaced by the DtN map on its boundary [61]. In addition, accurate approximations of DtN maps allow
truncations of the computational domain for solving hyperbolic problems. The studies in [29, 30, 41, 7, 6]
work with spectral decompositions of the DtN map, and show that by just placing grid points optimally in
the domain, one can obtain exponential convergence rates of approximations of the DtN map with second
order finite difference schemes. That is to say, although the solution of the forward problem is second order
accurate inside the computational domain, the DtN map is approximated with spectral accuracy. Problems
with piecewise constant and anisotropic coefficients are considered in [31, 8].
The optimal grids are useful in the context of numerical inversion, because they resolve the inconsistency
that arises from the exponential ill posedness of the problem and the second order convergence of typical
discretization schemes applied to equation (1.1), on ad-hoc grids that are usually uniform. The forward
problem for the approximation of the DtN map is the inverse of the EIT problem, so it should converge
exponentially. This can be achieved by discretizing on the optimal grids.
In this article we review the use of optimal grids in inversion, as it was developed over the last few years
in [12, 14, 13, 37, 15, 16, 52]. We present first, in section 3, the case of layered conductivity = (r) and
full boundary measurements, where the DtN map has eigenfunctions eik and eigenvalues denoted by f (k 2 ),
with integer k. Then, the forward problem can be stated as one of rational approximation of f (), for in
the complex plane, away from the negative real axis. We explain in section 3 how to compute the optimal
grid from such rational approximants and also how to use it in inversion. The optimal grid depends on the
type of discrete measurements that we make of (i.e., f ()) and so does the accuracy and stability of the
resulting approximations of .
The two dimensional problem = (r, ) is reviewed in sections 4 and 5. The easier case of full access
to the boundary, and discrete measurements at n equally distributed points on B is in section 4. There, the

grids are essentially the same as in the layered case and the finite volumes discretization leads to circular
networks with topology determined by the grids. We show how to use the discrete inverse problem theory for
circular networks developed in [22, 23, 40, 25, 26] for the numerical solution of the EIT problem. Section 5
considers the more difficult, partial boundary measurement setup, where the accessible boundary consists of
either one connected subset of B or two disjoint subsets. There, the optimal grids are truly two dimensional

and cannot be computed directly from the layered case.

The theoretical review of our results in [12, 14, 13, 37, 15, 16, 52] is complemented by some numerical
results. For brevity, all the results are in the noiseless case. We refer the reader to [17] for an extensive study
of noise effects on our inversion approach.

Pi,j+1

Pi+1/2,j+1/2

Pi1/2,j+1/2
Pi,j+1/2
Pi,j

Pi1,j

Pi+1,j

Pi+1/2,j1/2

Pi1/2,j1/2

Pi,j1

Figure 1: Finite volume discretization on a staggered grid. The primary grid lines are solid and the dual
ones are dashed. The primary grid nodes are indicated with and the dual nodes with . The dual cell
Ci,j , with vertices (dual nodes) Pi 12 ,j 21 surrounds the primary node Pi,j . A resistor is shown as a rectangle
with axis along a primary line, that intersects a dual line at the point indicated with .

Resistor networks as discrete models for EIT

Resistor networks arise naturally in the context of finite volume discretizations of the elliptic equation (1.1)
on staggered grids with interlacing primary and dual lines that may be curvilinear, as explained in section 2.1.
Standard finite volume discretizations use arbitrary, usually equidistant tensor product grids. We consider
optimal grids that are designed to obtain very accurate approximations of the measurements of the DtN
map, the data in the inverse problem. The geometry of these grids depends on the measurement setup. We
describe in section 2.2 the type of grids used for the full measurement case, where we have access to the
entire boundary B. The grids for the partial boundary measurement setup are discussed later, in section 5.

2.1

Finite volume discretization and resistor networks

See Figure 1 for an illustration of a staggered grid. The potential u(x) in equation (1.1) is discretized at the
primary nodes Pi,j , the intersection of the primary grid lines, and the finite volumes method balances the
fluxes across the boundary of the dual cells Cij ,
Z
Ci,j

[(x)u(x)] dx =

Z
Ci,j

(x)n(x) u(x)ds(x) = 0.

(2.1)

A dual cell Ci,j contains a primary point Pi,j , it has vertices (dual nodes) Pi 21 ,j 12 , and boundary
Ci,j = i,j+ 12 i+ 21 ,j i,j 12 i 21 ,j ,

(2.2)

the union of the dual line segments i,j 12 = (Pi 21 ,j 21 , Pi+ 12 ,j 12 ) and i 21 ,j = (Pi 21 ,j 12 , Pi 21 ,j+ 12 ). Let
us denote by P = {Pi,j } the set of primary nodes, and define the potential function U : P R as the finite

volume approximation of u(x) at the points in P,

Ui,j u(Pi,j ),
4

Pi,j P.

(2.3)

The set P is the union of two disjoint sets PI and PB of interior and boundary nodes, respectively. Adjacent

nodes in P are connected by edges in the set E P P. We denote the edges by Ei,j 12 = (Pi,j , Pi,j1 )
and Ei 12 ,j = (Pi1,j , Pi,j ).

The finite volume discretization results in a system of linear equations for the potential
i+ 21 ,j (Ui+1,j Ui,j ) + i 12 ,j (Ui1,j Ui,j ) + i,j+ 12 (Ui,j+1 Ui,j ) + i,j 21 (Ui,j1 Ui,j ) = 0,

(2.4)

with terms given by approximations of the fluxes

Z

(x)n(x) u(x)ds(x) i,j 21 (Ui,j1 Ui,j ),

i,j 1
2

(x)n(x) u(x)ds(x) i 21 ,j (Ui1,j Ui,j ).

(2.5)

i 1 ,j
2

Equations (2.4) are Kirchhoffs law for the interior nodes in a resistor network (, ) with graph = (P, E)

and conductance function : E R+ , that assigns to an edge like Ei 21 ,j in E a positive conductance i 12 ,j .

At the boundary nodes we discretize either the Dirichlet conditions (1.4), or the Neumann conditions (1.7),
depending on what we wish to approximate, the DtN or the NtD map.
To write the network equations in compact (matrix) form, let us number the primary nodes in some
fashion, starting with the interior ones and ending with the boundary ones. Then we can write P = {pq },

where pq are the numbered nodes. They correspond to points like Pi,j in Figure 1. Let also UI and UB be
the vectors with entries given by the potential at the interior nodes and boundary nodes, respectively. The
vector of boundary fluxes is denoted by JB . We assume throughout that there are n boundary nodes, so
UB , JB Rn . The network equations are
KU =

0
JB

!
,

U=

UI

UB

!
,

K=

KII

KIB

KIB

KBB

!
,

(2.6)

where K = (Kij ) is the Kirchhoff matrix with entries

Ki,j =

(E),

if i 6= j and E = (pi , pj ) E,

0,

if i 6= j and (pi , pj )
/ E,

(2.7)

(E), if i = j.

k: E=(pi ,pk )E

In (2.6) we write it in block form, with KII the block with row and column indices restricted to the interior
nodes, KIB the block with row indices restricted to the interior nodes and column indices restricted to the
boundary nodes, and so on. Note that K is symmetric, and its rows and columns sum to zero, which is just
the condition of conservation of currents.
It is shown in [22] that the potential U satisfies a discrete maximum principle. Its minimum and maximum
entries are located on the boundary. This implies that the network equations with Dirichlet boundary
conditions
KII UI = KIB UB

(2.8)

rb1 = r1 = 1

rb1 = r1 = 1
rb2
r2
rb3
r3
rb4
r4

r2
rb2
r3
rb3
r4

m1/2 = 0

m1/2 = 1

Figure 2: Examples of grids. The primary grid lines are solid and the dual ones are dotted. Both grids
have n = 6 primary boundary points, and index of the layers ` = 3. We have the type of grid indexed by
m1/2 = 0 on the left and by m1/2 = 1 on the right.
have a unique solution if KIB has full rank. That is to say, KII is invertible and we can eliminate UI from
(2.6) to obtain


JB = KBB KBI K1
KIB UB = UB .
II

(2.9)

The matrix Rnn is the Dirichlet to Neumann map of the network. It takes the boundary potential
UB to the vector JB of boundary fluxes, and is given by the Schur complement of the block KBB
= KBB KBI K1
KIB .
II

(2.10)

The DtN map is symmetric, with nontrivial null space spanned by the vector 1B Rn of all ones. The

symmetry follows directly from the symmetry of K. Since the columns of K sum to zero, K1 = 0, where 1
is the vector of all ones. Then, (2.9) gives JB = 0 = 1B , which means that 1B is in the null space of .
The inverse problem for a network (, ) is to determine the conductance function from the DtN

map . The graph is assumed known, and it plays a key role in the solvability of the inverse problem
[22, 23, 40, 25, 26]. More precisely, must satisfy a certain criticality condition for the network to be
uniquely recoverable from , and its topology should be adapted to the type of measurements that we
have. We review these facts in detail in sections 3-5. We also show there how to relate the continuum DtN
map to the discrete DtN map . The inversion algorithms in this paper use the solution of the discrete
inverse problem for networks to determine approximately the solution (x) of the continuum EIT problem.

2.2

Tensor product grids for the full boundary measurements setup

In the full boundary measurement setup, we have access to the entire boundary B, and it is natural to
discretize the domain (1.2) with tensor product grids that are uniform in angle, as shown in Figure 2. Let
j =

2(j 1)
,
n

2 (j 1/2)
bj =
,
n

j = 1, . . . , n,

(2.11)

be the angular locations of the primary and dual nodes. The radii of the primary and dual layers are denoted
by ri and rbi , and we count them starting from the boundary. We can have two types of grids, so we introduce
the parameter m1/2 {0, 1} to distinguish between them. We have
1 = r1 = rb1 > r2 > rb2 > . . . > r` > rb` > r`+1 0

(2.12)

1 = rb1 = r1 > rb2 > r2 > . . . > r` > rb`+1 > r`+1 0

(2.13)

when m1/2 = 0, and

for m1/2 = 1. In either case there are ` + 1 primary layers and ` + m1/2 dual ones, as illustrated in Figure
2. We explain in sections 3 and 4 how to place optimally in the interval [0, 1] the primary and dual radii, so
that the finite volume discretization gives an accurate approximation of the DtN map .
The graph of the network is given by the primary grid. We follow [22, 23] and call it a circular network.
It has n boundary nodes and n(2` + m1/2 1) edges. Each edge is associated with an unknown conductance

that is to be determined from the discrete DtN map , defined by measurements of , as explained in
sections 3 and 4. Since is symmetric, with columns summing to zero, it contains n(n1)/2 measurements.
Thus, we have the same number of unknowns as data points when
2` + m1/2 1 =

n1
,
2

n = odd integer.

(2.14)

This condition turns out to be necessary and sufficient for the DtN map to determine uniquely a circular
network, as shown in [26, 23, 13]. We assume henceforth that it holds.

Layered media

In this section we assume a layered conductivity function (r) in , the unit disk, and access to the entire
boundary B. Then, the problem is rotation invariant and can be simplified by writing the potential as a
Fourier series in the angle . We begin in section 3.1 with the spectral decomposition of the continuum

and discrete DtN maps and define their eigenvalues, which contain all the information about the layered
conductivity. Then, we explain in section 3.2 how to construct finite volume grids that give discrete DtN
maps with eigenvalues that are accurate, rational approximations of the eigenvalues of the continuum DtN
map. One such approximation brings an interesting connection between a classic Sturm-Liouville inverse
spectral problem [34, 19, 38, 54, 55] and an inverse eigenvalue problem for Jacobi matrices [20], as described
in sections 3.2.3 and 3.3. This connection allows us to solve the continuum inverse spectral problem with
efficient, linear algebra tools. The resulting algorithm is the first example of resistor network inversion on
optimal grids proposed and analyzed in [14], and we review its convergence study in section 3.3.

3.1

Spectral decomposition of the continuum and discrete DtN maps

Because equation (1.1) is separable in layered media, we write the potential u(r, ) as a Fourier series
u(r, ) = vB (0) +

X
kZ,k6=0

v(r, k)eik ,

(3.1)

with coefficients v(r, k) satisfying the differential equation



r d
dv(r, k)
r(r)
k 2 v(r, k) = 0,
(r) dr
dr

r (0, 1),

(3.2)

and the condition

v(0, k) = 0.

(3.3)

The first term vB (0) in (3.1) is the average boundary potential

vB (0) =

1
2

u(1, ) d.

(3.4)

The boundary conditions at r = 1 are Dirichlet or Neumann, depending on which map we consider, the DtN
or the NtD map.
3.1.1

The DtN map

The DtN map is determined by the potential v satisfying (3.2-3.3), with Dirichlet boundary condition
v(1, k) = vB (k),

(3.5)

where vB (k) are the Fourier coefficients of the boundary potential uB (). The normal boundary flux has the
Fourier series expansion

(1)

u(1, )
= uB () = (1)
r

X
kZ,k6=0

dv(1, k) ik
e ,
dr

(3.6)

and we assume for simplicity that (1) = 1. Then, we deduce formally from (3.6) that eik are the eigenfunctions of the DtN map , with eigenvalues
f (k 2 ) =

dv(1, k)
/v(1, k).
dr

(3.7)

Note that f (0) = 0.

A similar diagonalization applies to the DtN map of networks arising in the finite volume discretization
of (1.1) if the grids are equidistant in angle, as described in section 2.2. Then, the resulting network is layered
in the sense that the conductance function is rotation invariant. We can define various quadrature rules in
(2.5), with minor changes in the results [15, Section 2.4]. In this section we use the definitions
j+ 12 ,q =

h
h
=
,
z(rj+1 ) z(rj )
j

j,q+ 12 =

zb(b
rj+1 ) zb(b
rj )

bj
=
,
h
h

(3.8)

derived in appendix A, where h = 2/n and

Z
z(r) =
r

dt
,
t(t)

Z
zb(r) =

(t)
dt.
t

(3.9)

The network equations (2.4) become

1

bj

Uj+1,q Uj,q
Uj,q Uj1,q

j
j1

2Uj,q Uj,q+1 Uj,q1

= 0,
h2

and we can write them in block form as





Uj Uj1
1 Uj+1 Uj

2 Uj = 0,

bj
j
j1

(3.10)

(3.11)

where
T

Uj = (Uj,1 , . . . , Uj,n ) ,

(3.12)



and 2 is the circulant matrix

1
 2
1
= 2
.
h
..
1

1
2

..

...

...

1
..

...
..
.

0
..
.

...

..

...

.. ,
.

(3.13)

the discretization of the operator 2 with periodic boundary conditions. It has the eigenvectors
 ik 

T
e
= eik1 , . . . , eikn ,

(3.14)

with entries given by the restriction of the continuum eigenfunctions eik at the primary grid angles. Here
k is integer, satisfying |k| (n 1)/2, and the eigenvalues are k2 , where




kh 

k = |k| sinc
,
2 

(3.15)

and sinc(x) = sin(x)/x. Note that k2 k 2 only for |k|  n.

To determine the spectral decomposition of the discrete DtN map we proceed as in the continuum

and write the potential Uj as a Fourier sum

Uj = vB (0)1B +



Vj (k) eik ,

(3.16)

|k| n1
2 ,k6=0

where we recall that 1B Rn is a vector of all ones. We obtain the finite difference equation for the
coefficients Vj (k),

bj

Vj+1 (k) Vj (k) Vj (k) Vj1 (k)

j
j1

k2 Vj (k) = 0,

(3.17)

where j = 2, 3, . . . , `. It is the discretization of (3.2) that takes the form

d
db
z

dv(z, k)
dz

k 2 v(z, k) = 0,

in the coordinates (3.9), where we let in an abuse of notation v(r, k)

9

(3.18)
v(z, k). The boundary condition at

r = 0 is mapped to
lim v(z, k) = 0,

(3.19)

and it is implemented in the discretization as V`+1 (k) = 0. At the boundary r = 1, where z = 0, we specify
V1 (k) as some approximation of vB (k).

The discrete DtN map is diagonalized in the basis {[eik ]}|k| n1 , and we denote its eigenvalues by
2
F (k2 ). Its definition depends on the type of grid that we use, indexed by m1/2 , as explained in section 2.2.
In the case m1/2 = 0, the first radius next to the boundary is r2 , and we define the boundary flux at rb1 = 1

as (V1 (k) V2 (k))/1 . When m1/2 = 1, the first radius next to the boundary is rb2 , so to compute the flux
at rb1 we introduce a ghost layer at r0 > 1 and use equation (3.17) for j = 1 to define the boundary flux as
V0 (k) V1 (k)
V1 (k) V2 (k)
=
b1 k2 V1 (k) +
.
o
1
Therefore, the eigenvalues of the discrete DtN map are
F (k2 ) = m1/2
b1 k2 +
3.1.2

V1 (k) V2 (k)
.
1 V1 (k)

(3.20)

The NtD map

The NtD map has eigenfunctions eik for k 6= 0 and eigenvalues f (k 2 ) = 1/f (k 2 ). Equivalently, in terms
of the solution v(z, k) of equation (3.18) with boundary conditions (3.19) and
dv(0, k)
1

=
dz
2

JB ()eik d = B (k),

we have
f (k 2 ) =

v(0, k)
.
B (k)

(3.21)

(3.22)

In the discrete case, let us use the grids with m1/2 = 1. We obtain that the potential Vj (k) satisfies (3.17)
for j = 1, 2, . . . , `, with boundary conditions

V1 (k) V0 (k)
= B (k),
0

V`+1 = 0.

(3.23)

Here B (k) is some approximation of B (k). The eigenvalues of are

F (k2 ) =

3.2

V1 (k)
.
B (k)

(3.24)

Rational approximations, optimal grids and reconstruction mappings

Let us define by analogy to (3.22) and (3.24) the functions

f () =

v(0)
,
B

F () =

10

V1
,
B

(3.25)

where v solves equation (3.18) with k 2 replaced by and Vj solves equation (3.17) with k2 replaced by .
The spectral parameter may be complex, satisfying C \ (, 0]. For simplicity, we suppress in the
notation the dependence of v and Vj on . We consider in detail the discretizations on grids indexed by
m1/2 = 1, but the results can be extended to the other type of grids, indexed by m1/2 = 0.
Lemma 1. The function f () is of form
Z

d(t)
,
t

f () =

(3.26)

where (t) is the positive spectral measure on (, 0] of the differential operator dzbdz , with homogeneous
Neumann condition at z = 0 and limit condition (3.19). The function F () has a similar form
F () =

dF (t)
,
t

(3.27)

where F (t) is the spectral measure of the difference operator in (3.17) with boundary conditions (3.23).
Proof: The result (3.26) is shown in [44] and it says that f () is essentially a Stieltjes function. To
derive the representation (3.27), we write our difference equations in matrix form for V = (V1 , . . . , V` )T ,
(A I) V =

B ()
e1 .

b1

(3.28)

Here I is the ` ` identity matrix, e1 = (1, . . . , 0)T R` and A is the tridiagonal matrix with entries
(
Aij =

1
i

1
i1 i,j
b111 1,j + b111 2,j

b1i

bi i1 i1,j

bi i i+1,j

if 1 < i `, 1 j `,
if i = 1, 1 j `.

(3.29)

The Kronecker delta symbol i,j is one when i = j and zero otherwise. Note that A is a Jacobi matrix when
it is defined on the vector space R` with weighted inner product
ha, bi =

`
X

bj aj bj ,

a = (a1 , . . . , a` )T , b = (b1 , . . . , b` )T .

(3.30)

j=1

That is to say,




1/2
1/2
1/2
1/2
e = diag
b`
A
b1 , . . . ,
b`
A diag
b1 , . . . ,

(3.31)

is a symmetric, tridiagonal matrix, with negative entries on its diagonal and positive entries on its upper/lower diagonal. It follows from [20] that A has simple, negative eigenvalues j2 and eigenvectors
T

Yj = (Y1,j , . . . , Y`,j ) that are orthogonal with respect to the inner product (3.30). We order the eigenvalues as
1 < 2 < . . . < ` ,

11

(3.32)

and normalize the eigenvectors

kYj k2 = hYj , Yj i =

`
X

bp2 Yp,j
= 1.

(3.33)

p=1

Then, we obtain from (3.25) and (3.28), after expanding V in the basis of the eigenvectors, that
F () =

`
2
X
Y1,j
.
+ j2
j=1

(3.34)

This is precisely (3.27), for the discrete spectral measure

F (t) =

`
X
j=1

j H t j2 ,

2
j = Y1,j
,

(3.35)

where H is the Heaviside step function. .

Note that any function of the form (3.34) defines the eigenvalues F (k2 ) of the NtD map of a
finite volumes scheme with ` + 1 primary radii and uniform discretization in angle. This follows from the
decomposition in section 3.1 and the results in [44]. Note also that there is an explicit, continued fraction
representation of F (), in terms of the network conductances, i.e., the parameters j and
bj ,
1

F () =

b1 +
1 + . . .

(3.36)

b` +

1
`

This representation is known in the theory of rational function approximations [59, 44] and its derivation is
given in appendix B.
Since both f () and F () are Stieltjes functions, we can design finite volume schemes (i.e., layered networks) with accurate, rational approximations F () of f (). There are various approximants F (), with
different rates of convergence to f (), as ` . We discuss two choices below, in sections 3.2.2 and 3.2.3,

but refer the reader to [30, 29, 32] for details on various Pade approximants and the resulting discretization
schemes. No matter which approximant we choose, we can compute the network conductances, i.e., the
parameters j and
bj for j = 1, . . . , `, from 2` measurements of f (). The type of measurements dictates
the type of approximant, and only some of them are directly accessible in the EIT problem. For example,
the spectral measure () cannot be determined in a stable manner in EIT. However, we can measure the
eigenvalues f (k 2 ) for integer k, and thus we can design a rational, multi-point Pade approximant.
Remark 1. We describe in detail in appendix D how to determine the parameters {j ,
bj }j=1,...,` from 2`
n1

2
point measurements of f (), such as f (k ), for k = 1, . . . , 2 = 2`. The are two steps. The first is to
write F () as the ratio of two polynomials of , and determine the 2` coefficients of these polynomials from
the measurements F (k2 ) of f (k 2 ), for 1 k

n1
2 .

See section 3.2.2 for examples of such measurements.

12

The exponential instability of EIT comes into play in this step, because it involves the inversion of a Vandermonde matrix. It is known [33] that such matrices have condition numbers that grow exponentially with
the dimension `. The second step is to determine the parameters {j ,
bj }j=1,...,` from the coefficients of the

polynomials. This can be done in a stable manner with the Euclidean division algorithm [47].

The approximation problem can also be formulated in terms of the DtN map, with F () = 1/F ().
Moreover, the representation (3.36) generalizes to both types of grids, by replacing
b1 with
b1 m1/2 . Recall
equation (3.20) and note the parameter
b1 does not play any role when m1/2 = 0.
3.2.1

Optimal grids and reconstruction mappings

Once we have determined the network conductances, that is the coefficients

Z

rj

j =
rj+1

dr
,
r(r)

bj =

r
bj

r
bj+1

(r)
dr,
r

j = 1, . . . , `,

(3.37)

we could determine the optimal placement of the radii rj and rbj , if we knew the conductivity (r). But (r)
is the unknown in the inverse problem. The key idea behind the resistor network approach to inversion is
that the grid depends only weakly on , and we can compute it approximately for the reference conductivity
(o) 1.

Let us denote by f (o) () the analog of (3.25) for conductivity (o) , and let F (o) () be its rational
(o)

approximant defined by (3.36), with coefficients j

(o)
j

(o)

Z
=

(o)

rj

(o)

rj+1

(o)

and
bj

(o)

rj
dr
= log (o) ,
r
rj+1

(o)

bj

Z
=

r
bj

r
bj+1

given by
(o)

rbj
dr
= log (o) ,
r
rbj+1

j = 1, . . . , `.

(3.38)

(o)

Since r1 = rb1 = 1, we obtain

(o)
rj+1

= exp

j
X
q=1

!
q(o)

(o)
rbj+1

= exp

j
X

bq(o)

j = 1, . . . , `.

(3.39)

q=1

We call the radii (3.39) optimal. The name refers to the fact that finite volume discretizations on grids with
such radii give an NtD map that matches the measurements of the continuum map (o) for the reference
conductivity (o) .
(o)

(o)

Remark 2. It is essential that the parameters {j ,

bj } and {j ,
bj } are computed from the same type of
measurements. For example, if we measure f (k 2 ), we compute {j ,
bj } so that
F (k2 ) = f (k 2 ),
(o)

(o)

and {j ,
bj } so that

F (o) (k2 ) = f (o) (k 2 ),

where k = 1, . . . , (n 1)/2. This is because the distribution of the radii (3.39) in the interval [0, 1] depends
on what measurements we make, as illustrated with examples in sections 3.2.2 and 3.2.3.
13

Now let us denote by Dn the set in R

n1
2

of measurements of f (), and introduce the reconstruction

n1

mapping Qn defined on Dn , with values in R+2 . It takes the measurements of f () and returns the
(n 1)/2 positive numbers

j+1m1/2

bj+m1/2

bj

(o)

bj

j = 2 m1/2 , . . . `,

(o)

j
,
j

j = 1, 2, . . . , `.,

(3.40)

where we recall the relation (2.14) between ` and n. We call Qn a reconstruction mapping because if we
(o)

take j and
bj as point values of a conductivity at nodes rj

(o)

and rbj , and interpolate them on the optimal

grid, we expect to get a conductivity that is close to the interpolation of the true (r). This is assuming that
the grid does not depend strongly on (r). The proof that the resulting sequence of conductivity functions
indexed by ` converges to the true (r) as ` is carried out in [14], given the spectral measure of f ().

We review it in section 3.3, and discuss the measurements in section 3.2.3. The convergence proof for other
measurements remains an open question, but the numerical results indicate that the result should hold.
Moreover, the ideas extend to the two dimensional case, as explained in detail in sections 4 and 5.
3.2.2

Examples of rational interpolation grids

Let us begin with an example that arises in the discretization of the problem with lumped current measurements
1
Jq =
h
for h =

2
n ,

bq+1

uB ()d,

bq
T

and vector UB = (uB (1 ), . . . , uB (n )) of boundary potentials. If we take harmonic boundary

excitations uB () = eik , the eigenfunction of for eigenvalue f (k 2 ), we obtain

Jq =

1
h

bq+1

bq





kh  ikq
f (k 2 )
e
eik d = f (k 2 ) sinc
=
k eikq ,

2
|k|

These measurements, for all integers k satisfying |k|

symmetric matrix with eigenvectors [e

ik

ik1

]= e

,...,e

n1
2
, define
ikn T

q = 1, . . . , n.

(3.41)

a discrete DtN map Mn ( ). It is a

, and eigenvalues

f (k2 )
|k| k .

The approximation problem is to find the finite volume discretization with DtN map = Mn ( ).
Since both and Mn have the same eigenvectors, this is equivalent to the rational approximation problem
of finding the network conductances (3.8) (i.e., j and
bj ), so that
F (k2 ) =

f (k 2 )
k ,
|k|

k = 1, . . . ,

n1
.
2

(3.42)

The eigenvalues depend only on |k|, and the case k = 0 gives no information, because it corresponds to

constant boundary potentials that lie in the null space of the DtN map. This is why we take in (3.42) only
the positive values of k, and obtain the same number (n 1)/2 of measurements as unknowns: {j }j=1,...,`
and {b
j }j=2m1/2 ,...,` .

When we compute the optimal grid, we take the reference (o) 1, in which case f (o) (k 2 ) = |k|. Thus,
14

m=5, m1/2=1, n=25

0.2

0.4

r [0,1]

m=8, m1/2=0, n=35

0.6

0.8

0.2

0.4

r [0,1]

0.6

0.8

Figure 3: Examples of optimal grids with n equidistant boundary points and primary and dual radii shown
with and . On the left we have n = 25 and a grid indexed by m1/2 = 1, with ` = m + 1 = 6. On the right
we have n = 35 and a grid indexed by m1/2 = 0, with ` = m + 1 = 8. The grid shown in red is computed
with formulas (3.44). The grid shown in blue is obtained from the rational approximation (3.50).
the optimal grid computation reduces to that of rational interpolation of f (),
F (o) (k2 ) = k = f (o) (k2 ),

k = 1, . . . ,

n1
.
2

(3.43)
(o)

This is solved explicitly in [10]. For example, when m1/2 = 1, the coefficients j
(o)
j


h
= h cot
(2` 2j + 1) ,
2

(o)

bj


h
= h cot
(2` 2j + 2) ,
2

(o)

and
bj

are given by

j = 1, 2 . . . , `, (3.44)

and the radii follow from (3.39). They satisfy the interlacing relations
(o)

(o)

(o)

(o)

(o)

(o)

1 = rb1 = r1 > rb2 > r2 > . . . > rb`+1 > r`+1 0,

(3.45)

as can be shown easily using the monotonicity of the cotangent and exponential functions. We show an
illustration of the resulting grids in red, in Figure 3. Note the refinement toward the boundary r = 1 and
the coarsening toward the center r = 0 of the disk. Note also that the dual points shown with are almost
(o)

half way between the primary points shown with . The last primary radii r`+1 are small, but the points
do not reach the center of the domain at r = 0.

In sections 4 and 5 we work with slightly different measurements of the DtN map = Mn ( ), with
entries defined by
Z
( )p,q =

p () q ()d,
0

p 6= q,

( )p,p =

( )p,q ,

(3.46)

q6=p

using the non-negative measurement (electrode) functions q () that are compactly supported in (bq , bq+1 ),
and are normalized by
Z

q ()d = 1.
0

For example, we can take

(
q () =

1
h ,

if bq < < bq+1 ,

0,

otherwise.
15

and obtain after a calculation given in appendix C that the entries of are given by
( )p,q =



2
1 X ik(p q )
kh
e
f (k 2 ) sinc
,
2
2

p, q, = 1, . . . , n.

(3.47)

kZ

We also show in appendix C that



1 e 2  ik 
F (k ) e
,
eik =
h

|k|

n1
,
2

(3.48)



with eigenvectors eik defined in (3.14) and scaled eigenvalues




2


kh 
kh
2
2
2 
e
.
F (k ) = f (k ) sinc
= F (k ) sinc
2
2 

(3.49)

Here we recalled (3.42) and (3.15).

There is no explicit formula for the optimal grid satisfying








kh 
kh 

Fe(o) (k2 ) = F (o) (k2 ) sinc
=

sinc
,
k
2 
2 

(3.50)

but we can compute it as explained in Remark 1 and appendix D. We show in Figure 3 two examples of the
grids, and note that they are very close to those obtained from the rational interpolation (3.43). This is not
surprising because the sinc factor in (3.50) is not significantly different from 1 over the range |k|

n1
2 ,



 



sin 2 1 n1
2
kh 



1.
<
sinc

2 
2 1 n
Thus, many eigenvalues Fe(o) (k2 ) are approximately equal to k , and this is why the grids are similar.
3.2.3

Truncated measure and optimal grids

Another example of rational approximation arises in a modified problem, where the positive spectral measure
in Lemma 1 is discrete
(t) =

X
j=1

j H t j2 .

(3.51)

This does not hold for equation (3.2) or equivalently (3.18), where the origin of the disc r = 0 is mapped to
in the logarithmic coordinates z(r), and the measure (t) is continuous. To obtain a measure like (3.51),
we change the problem here and in the next section to



r d
dv(r)
r(r)
v(r) = 0,
(r) dr
dr

r (, 1),

(3.52)

with  (0, 1) and boundary conditions

v(o)
= B ,
r

16

v() = 0.

(3.53)

The Dirichlet boundary condition at r =  may be realized if we have a perfectly conducting medium in the
disk concentric with and of radius . Otherwise, v() = 0 gives an approximation of our problem, for small
but finite .
Coordinate change and scaling
It is convenient here and in the next section to introduce the scaled logarithmic coordinate
1
z (o) (r)
=
(r) =
Z
Z

Z
r

dt
,
t

Z = log() = z (o) (),

(3.54)

and write (3.9) in the scaled form

z(r)
=
Z

Z
0

dt
= z 0 (),
(r(t))

zb(r)
=
Z

(r(t))dt = zb 0 ().

(3.55)

The conductivity function in the transformed coordinates is

0 () = (r()),
and the potential
v 0 (z 0 ) =

r() = eZ ,

(3.56)

v(r(z 0 ))
B

(3.57)

satisfies the scaled equations

d
db
z0

dv 0
dz 0

0 v 0

dv(0)
dz 0

= 1,

where we let 0 = /Z 2 and

0

z 0 (0, L0 ),

0,

L = z (1) =
0

v(L0 ) = 0,

(3.58)

dt
.
0 (t)

(3.59)

Remark 3. We assume in the remainder of this section and in section 3.3 that we work with the scaled
equations (3.58) and drop the primes for simplicity of notation.
The inverse spectral problem
The differential operator

d d
db
z dz

acting on the vector space of functions with homogeneous Neumann conditions

at z = 0 and Dirichlet conditions at z = L is symmetric with respect to the weighted inner product
Z
(a, b) =

b
L

Z
a(z)b(z)db
z=

a(z())b(z())()d,
0

17

b = zb(1).
L

(3.60)

It has negative eigenvalues {j2 }j=1,2,... , the points of increase of the measure (3.51), and eigenfunctions
yj (z). They are orthogonal with respect to the inner product (3.60), and we normalize them by
kyj k2 = (yj , yj ) =

Z
0

b
L

yj2 (z)db
z = 1.

(3.61)

The weights j in (3.51) are defined by

j = yj2 (0).

(3.62)

For the discrete problem we assume in the remainder of the section that m1/2 = 1, and work with the
NtD map, that is with F () represented in Lemma 1 in terms of the discrete measure F (t). Comparing
(3.51) and (3.35), we note that we ask that F (t) be the truncated version of (t), given the first ` weights j
and eigenvalues j2 , for j = 1, . . . , `. We arrived at the classic inverse spectral problem [34, 19, 38, 54, 55],

that seeks an approximation of the conductivity from the truncated measure. We can solve it using the
theory of resistor networks, via an inverse eigenvalue problem [20] for the Jacobi like matrix A defined in
(3.29). The key ingredient in the connection between the continuous and discrete eigenvalue problems is the
optimal grid, as was first noted in [12] and proved in [14]. We review this result in section 3.3.
The truncated measure optimal grid
The optimal grid is obtained by solving the discrete inverse problem with spectral data for the reference
conductivity (o) (),
Dn(o) =
(o)

(o)

(o)

= 2, j



1
,
= j
2

(o)


j = 1, . . . , ` .

(3.63)

(o)

The parameters {j ,
bj }j=1,...,` can be determined from Dn with the Lanczos algorithm [65, 20] reviewed

briefly in appendix E. The grid points are given by

(o)

(o)

(o)

j+1 = j + j

j
X

(o)
(o)
(o)
bj+1 =
bj + bj =

q(o) ,

q=1
(o)

where 1

j
X

bq(o) ,

j = 1, . . . , `,

(3.64)

q=1

(o)
= b1 = 0. This is in the logarithmic coordinates that are related to the optimal radii as in

(3.56). The grid is calculated explicitly in [14, Appendix A]. We summarize its properties in the next lemma,
for large `.
(o)

(o)

Lemma 2. The steps {j ,

bj }j=1,...,` of the truncated measure optimal grid satisfy the monotone relation
(o)

(o)

(o)

(o)

(o)

(o)

b2 < 2 < . . . <

bk < k .

b1 < 1 <

(3.65)

Moreover, for large `, the primary grid steps are

(o)
j

2+O [(`j)1 +j 2 ]

`2 j 2

2+O(`1 )

,
`

if 1 j ` 1,
if j = `,

18

(3.66)

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Figure 4:
Example of truncated measure optimal grid with ` = 6. This is in the logarithmic scaled
coordinates [0, 1]. The primary points are denoted with and the dual ones with .

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Figure 5: The radial grid obtained with the coordinate change r = eZ . The scale Z = log  affects
the distribution of the radii. The choice  = 0.1 is in blue,  = 0.05 is in red and  = 0.01 is in black. The
primary radii are indicated with and the dual ones with .
and the dual grid steps are
(o)

bj



2 + O (` + 1 j)1 + j 2
p
=
,
`2 (j 1/2)2

1 j `.

(3.67)

We show in Figure 4 an example for the case ` = 6. To compare it with the grid in Figure 3, we plot in
Figure 5 the radii given by the coordinate transformation (3.56), for three different parameters . Note that
the primary and dual points are interlaced, but the dual points are not half way between the primary points,
as was the case in Figure 3. Moreover, the grid is not refined near the boundary at r = 1. In fact, there is
accumulation of the grid points near the center of the disk, where we truncate the domain. The smaller the
truncation radius , the larger the scale Z = log , and the more accumulation near the center.

Intuitively, we can say that the grids in Figure 3 are much superior to the ones computed from the

truncated measure, for both the forward and inverse EIT problem. Indeed, for the forward problem, the rate
of convergence of F () to f () on the truncated measure grids is algebraic [14]




 X
 

1
j
 = O
f () F () = 
=O 1 .
2

j2
`
j=`+1 + j 
j=`+1
The rational interpolation grids described in section 3.2.2 give exponential convergence of F () to f ()
[51]. For the inverse problem, we expect that the resolution of reconstructions of decreases rapidly away
from the boundary where we make the measurements, so it makes sense to invert on grids like those in Figure
3, that are refined near r = 1.
The examples in Figures 3 and 5 show the strong dependence of the grids on the measurement setup.
Although the grids in Figure 5 are not good for the EIT problem, they are optimal for the inverse spectral
problem. The optimality is in the sense that the grids give an exact match of the spectral measurements
(3.63) of the NtD map for conductivity (o) . Furthermore, they give a very good match of the spectral

19

measurements (3.68) for the unknown , and the reconstructed conductivity on them converges to the true
, as we show next.

3.3

Continuum limit of the discrete inverse spectral problem on optimal grids

Let Qn : Dn R2`
+ be the reconstruction mapping that takes the data
Dn = {j , j ,
to the 2` =

n1
2

j = 1, . . . , `}

(3.68)

positive values {j ,
bj }j=1,...,` given by
j =

(o)

bj

,
(o)

bj

bj+1 =

j
,
j

j = 1, 2, . . . , `.

(3.69)

The computation of {j ,
bj }j=1,...,` requires solving the discrete inverse spectral problem with data Dn ,

using for example the Lanczos algorithm reviewed in appendix E. We define the reconstruction ` () of the

conductivity as the piecewise constant interpolation of the point values (3.69) on the optimal grid (3.64).
We have

(o) (o)

if [j , bj+1 ), j = 1, . . . , `,
j ,

(o) (o)
(3.70)
` () =

bj ,
if [bj , j ), j = 2, . . . , ` + 1,

(o)

b`+1 ,
if [l+1 , 1]
and we discuss here its convergence to the true conductivity function (), as ` .

To state the convergence result, we need some assumptions on the decay with j of the perturbations of

the spectral data

(o)

(o)

j = j j ,

j = j j .

(3.71)

The asymptotic behavior of j and j is well known, under various smoothness requirements on (z) [55, 60,
21]. For example, if () H 3 [0, 1], we have
j = j

(o)
j

R1
=

q()d
(o)
+ O j 2 and j = j j = O j 2 ,
(2j 1)
0

(3.72)

where q() is the Schr

odinger potential
1

12

q() = ()

d2 () 2
.
d 2

(3.73)

We have the following convergence result proved in [14].

Theorem 1. Suppose that () is a positive and bounded scalar conductivity function, with spectral data
satisfying the asymptotic behavior

j = O

1
s
j log(j)


,

j = O

20

1
js


,

for some s > 1, as j .

(3.74)

Then ` () converges to () as ` , pointwise and in L1 [0, 1].

Before we describe the outline of the proof in [14], let us note that it appears from (3.72) and (3.74) that
the convergence result applies only to the class of conductivities with zero mean potential. However, if
Z

q()d 6= 0,

q=
0

(3.75)
(o)

we can modify the point values (3.69) of the reconstruction ` () by replacing j

and
(q)
Dn

(q)

bj ,
n

(o)

and
bj

(q)

with j

for j = 1, . . . , `. These are computed by solving the discrete inverse spectral problem with data
o
j = 1, . . . , ` , for conductivity function

(q) (q)
j , j ,

(q) () =

2
1  q
e
+ e q .
4

(3.76)

This conductivity satisfies the initial value problem

d2

(q) ()
=q
d 2

q
(q) ()

for

and we assume that

q>
so that (3.76) stays positive for [0, 1].

d (q) (0)
=0
d

0 < 1,

(q)

As seen from (3.72), the perturbations j j

2
,
4
(q)

(q)

(3.77)

(3.78)

and j j

1 applies to reconstructions on the grid given by

and (q) (0) = 1,

satisfy the assumptions (3.74), so Theorem

. We show below in Corollary 1 that this grid is

asymptotically the same as the optimal grid, calculated for (o) . Thus, the convergence result in Theorem 1
applies after all, without changing the definition of the reconstruction (3.70).
3.3.1

The case of constant Schr

odinger potential
(q) can be transformed to Schrodinger form with constant potential q

The equation (3.58) for

d2 w()
( + q)w() = 0,
d 2
dw(0)
= 1,
d

(0, 1),

(3.79)

w(1) = 0,

p
(q)
by letting w() = v() (q) (). Thus, the eigenfunctions yj () of the differential operator associated with
(o)

(q) () are related to yj (), the eigenfunctions for (o) 1, by

(o)

yj ()
(q)
yj () = p
.
(q) ()

(3.80)

They satisfy the orthonormality condition

Z
0

(q)

yj ()yp(q) () (q) ()d =

21

Z
0

(o)

yj ()yp(o) ()d = jp ,

(3.81)

and since (q) (0) = 1,

(q)

h
i2 h
i2
(q)
(o)
(o)
= yj (0) = yj (0) = j ,

j = 1, 2, . . .

(3.82)

The eigenvalues are shifted by q,


2

2
(q)
(o)
j
= j
q,
(q)

j = 1, 2, . . .

(3.83)

(q)

Let {j ,
bj }j=1,...,` be the parameters obtained by solving the discrete inverse spectral problem with
(q)

(q)

data Dn . The reconstruction mapping Qn : Dn R2` gives the sequence of 2` =

(q)

(q)

bj

,
(o)

bj

n1
2

pointwise values

(o)

(q)

bj+1 =

(q)

j = 1, . . . , `.

(3.84)

We have the following result stated and proved in [14]. See the review of the proof in appendix F.
(q)

Lemma 3. The point values j

satisfy the finite difference discretization of initial value problem (3.77),

on the optimal grid,

q

1
(o)

bj

(q)

Moreover,
bj+1 =

(q)
j+1

(q)
j

(o)

q
q

(q)
(q)
q
j j1

q j(q)
(o)
j1
q
q

(q)
(q)
q

1
2
1
q 1(q)
(o)
(o)

b1
1

0,

j = 2, 3, . . . , `,

0,

1 = 1.

(q)

(3.85)

q
(q) (q)
j j+1 , for j = 1, . . . , `.

The convergence of the reconstruction (q),` () follows from this lemma and a standard finite-difference
error analysis [36] on the optimal grid satisfying Lemma 2. The reconstruction is defined as in (3.70), by the
piecewise constant interpolation of the point values (3.84) on the optimal grid.
Theorem 2. As ` we have


 (q)
(o) 
max j (q) (j ) 0

1j`



 (q)
(o) 
max b
j+1 (q) (bj+1 ) 0,

and

1j`

(3.86)

and the reconstruction (q),` () converges to (q) () in L [0, 1].

As a corollary to this theorem, we can now obtain that the grid induced by (q) (), with primary nodes
(q)
and dual nodes b , is asymptotically close to the optimal grid. The proof is in appendix F.

(q)
j

Corollary 1. The grid induced by (q) () is defined by equations

Z
0

(q)

j+1

X
d
=
(q) ,
(q) () p=1 p

(q)
bj+1

(q) ()d =

j
X

bp(q) ,

j = 1, . . . , `,

(q)

(q)
= b1 = 0,

(3.87)

p=1

and satisfies


 (q)
(o) 
max j j  0,

1j`+1



 (q)
(o) 
max bj bj  0,

1j`+1

22

as ` .

(3.88)

3.3.2

Outline of the proof of Theorem 1

The proof given in detail in [14] has two main steps. The first step is to establish the compactness of the
set of reconstructed conductivities. The second step uses the established compactness and the uniqueness of
solution of the continuum inverse spectral problem to get the convergence result.
Step 1: Compactness
We show here that the sequence { ` ()}`1 of reconstructions (3.70) has bounded variation.
Lemma 4. The sequence {j ,
bj+1 }j=1,...,` (3.69) returned by the reconstruction mapping Qn satisfies
`
X
j=1

`
X

|log
bj+1 log j | +

|log
bj+1 log j+1 | C,

j=1

(3.89)

where C is independent of `. Therefore the sequence of reconstructions { ` ()}`1 has uniformly bounded
variation.

Our original formulation is not convenient for proving (3.89), because when written in Schrodinger form,
it involves the second derivative of the conductivity as seen from (3.73). Thus, we rewrite the problem in
first order system form, which involves only the first derivative of (), which is all we need to show (3.89).
At the discrete level, the linear system of ` equations
AV V =

e1

b1

(3.90)

for the potential V = (V1 , . . . , V` ) is transformed to the system of 2` equations

1

BH 2 W

1
e1
H 2 W =
b
1

(3.91)


T
c2 , . . . , W` , W
c`+1
for the vector W = W1 , W
with components

Wj =

j Vj ,

cj+1
W

Vj+1 Vj

bj+1
=p
j

(o)

!
,

j = 1, . . . , `.

(3.92)



(o)
(o)
(o)
(o)
Here H = diag
b1 , 1 , . . . ,
b` , `
and B is the tridiagonal, skew-symmetric matrix

B=
0
.
..

...

..

. . .

..
.

2`1

...

23

(3.93)

with entries
2p

2p1

s
s
1
1

bp+1

bp+1
(o)
p
=q
= 2p
,
(o) (o)
p
p+1
p
bp+1
p
bp+1
s
s
1

bp+1

bp+1
1
(o)
p
= 2p1
.
=q
p
p
(o) (o)
p
bp
p
bp

(3.94)

(3.95)

Note that we have



`
`
p  1 X
1X

|log
bp+1 log p | +
|log
bp+1 log p+1 | ,
log (o)  =

2 p=1
p  2 p=1

2`1
X
p=1

(3.96)

and we can prove (3.89) by using a method of small perturbations. Recall definitions (3.71) and let
jr = rj ,

jr = rj ,

j = 1, . . . , `,

(3.97)

where r [0, 1] is an arbitrary continuation parameter. Let also jr be the entries of the tridiagonal,
(o)

skew-symmetric matrix Br determined by the spectral data jr = j

(o)

+ jr and jr = j

+ jr , for

j = 1, . . . , `. We explain in appendix G how to obtain explicit formulae for the perturbations d log jr in
terms of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of matrix Br and perturbations djr = j dr and djr = j dr.
These perturbations satisfy the uniform bound
2`1
X
j=1



d log jr  C1 |dr|,

(3.98)

with constant C1 independent of ` and r. Then,

log

satisfies the uniform bound

j
(o)
j

=
0

d log jr

(3.99)



j 

log (o)  C1 and (3.89) follows from (3.96).

j 

2`1
X
j=1

Step 2: Convergence
Recall section 3.2 where we state that the eigenvectors Yj of Aare orthonormal
with respect to the weighted

1
1
2
2
e
inner product (3.30). Then, the matrix Y with columns diag
b ,...,
b Yj is orthogonal and we have
1

eY
eT
Y


11

=
b1

`
X
j=1

24

j = 1.

(3.100)

Similarly
(o)

b1

`
X

(o)

(o)

= 2`b
1 = 1,

(3.101)

j=1

where we used (3.63), and since j are summable by assumption (3.74),

1 =

b1

(o)

b1

`
X
(o)

= 1 +
b1

1
j

(o)

= 1 + O(b
1 ) = 1 + O

j=1

 
1
.
`

(3.102)

But ` (0) = 1 , and since ` () has bounded variation by Lemma 4, we conclude that ` () is uniformly
bounded in [0, 1].

Now, to show that ` () () in L1 [0, 1], suppose for contradiction that it does not. Then, there exists

> 0 and a subsequence `k such that

k `k kL1 [0,1] .
But since this subsequence is bounded and has bounded variation, we conclude from Hellys selection principle
and the compactness of the embedding of the space of functions of bounded variation in L1 [0, 1] [57] that it
has a convergent subsequence pointwise and in L1 [0, 1]. Call again this subsequence `k and denote its limit
by ? 6= . Since the limit is in L1 [0, 1], we have by definitions (3.55) and Remark 3,
`k

z(; ) =
0

dt
z(; ) =
`k (t)

Z
0

dt
,
? (t)

`k

zb(; ) =

`k

(t)dt zb(; ) =

(t)dt. (3.103)
0

Furthermore, the continuity of f with respect to the conductivity gives f (; `k ) f (; ? ). However,

Lemma 1 and (3.51) show that f (; ` ) f (; ) by construction, and since the inverse spectral problem

has a unique solution [35, 49, 21, 60], we must have ? = . We have reached a contradiction, so ` () ()
in L1 [0, 1]. The pointwise convergence can be proved analogously.

Remark 4. All the elements of the proof presented here, except for establishing the bound (3.98), apply
to any measurement setup. The challenge in proving convergence of inversion on optimal grids for general
measurements lies entirely in obtaining sharp stability estimates of the reconstructed sequence with respect to
perturbations in the data. The inverse spectral problem is stable, and this is why we could establish the bound
(3.98). The EIT problem is exponentially unstable, and it remains an open problem to show the compactness
of the function space of reconstruction sequences ` from measurements such as (3.49).

Two dimensional media and full boundary measurements

We now consider the two dimensional EIT problem, where = (r, ) and we cannot use separation of
variables as in section 3. More explicitly, we cannot reduce the inverse problem for resistor networks to
one of rational approximation of the eigenvalues of the DtN map. We start by reviewing in section 4.1
the conditions of unique recovery of a network (, ) from its DtN map , defined by measurements of
the continuum . The approximation of the conductivity from the network conductance function is
described in section 4.2.

25

4.1

The inverse problem for planar resistor networks

The unique recoverability from of a network (, ) with known circular planar graph is established in
[25, 26, 22, 23]. A graph = (P, E) is called circular and planar if it can be embedded in the plane with

no edges crossing and with the boundary nodes lying on a circle. We call by association the networks with

such graphs circular planar. The recoverability result states that if the data is consistent and the graph is
critical then the DtN map determines uniquely the conductance function . By consistent data we mean
that the measured matrix belongs to the set of DtN maps of circular planar resistor networks.
A graph is critical if and only if it is well-connected and the removal of any edge breaks the wellconnectedness. A graph is well-connected if all its circular pairs (P, Q) are connected. Let P and Q be two
sets of boundary nodes with the same cardinality |P | = |Q|. We say that (P, Q) is a circular pair when the

nodes in P and Q lie on disjoint segments of the boundary B. The pair is connected if there are |P | disjoint
paths joining the nodes of P to the nodes of Q.

A symmetric n n real matrix is the DtN map of a circular planar resistor network with n boundary

nodes if its rows sum to zero 1 = 0 (conservation of currents) and all its circular minors ( )P,Q have

non-positive determinant. A circular minor ( )P,Q is a square submatrix of defined for a circular
pair (P, Q), with row and column indices corresponding to the nodes in P and Q, ordered according to a
predetermined orientation of the circle B. Since subsets of P and Q with the same cardinality also form

circular pairs, the determinantal inequalities are equivalent to requiring that all circular minors be totally
non-positive. A matrix is totally non-positive if all its minors have non-positive determinant.
Examples of critical networks were given in section 2.2, with graphs determined by tensor product
grids. Criticality of such networks is proved in [22] for an odd number n of boundary points. As explained
in section 2.2 (see in particular equation (2.14)), criticality holds when the number of edges in E is equal to
the number n(n 1)/2 of independent entries of the DtN map .

The discussion in this section is limited to the tensor product topology, which is natural for the full

boundary measurement setup. Two other topologies admitting critical networks (pyramidal and two-sided),
are discussed in more detail in sections 5.2.1 and 5.2.2. They are better suited for partial boundary measurements setups [16, 17].
Remark 5. It is impossible to recover both the topology and the conductances from the DtN map of a
network. An example of this indetermination is the so-called Y transformation given in figure 6. A
critical network can be transformed into another by a sequence of Y transformations without affecting
the DtN map [23].

4.1.1

From the continuum to the discrete DtN map

Ingerman and Morrow [42] showed that pointwise values of the kernel of at any n distinct nodes on
B define a matrix that is consistent with the DtN map of a circular planar resistor network, as defined

above. We consider a generalization of these measurements, taken with electrode functions q (), as given
in equation (3.46). It is shown in [13] that the measurement operator Mn in (3.46) gives a matrix Mn ( )
that belongs to the set of DtN maps of circular planar resistor networks. We can equate therefore
Mn ( ) = ,
26

(4.1)

s
q

Figure 6: Given some conductances in the Y network, there is a choice of conductances in the network
for which the two networks are indistinguishable from electrical measurements at the nodes p, q and r.
and solve the inverse problem for the network (, ) to determine the conductance from the data .

4.2

Solving the 2D problem with optimal grids

To approximate (x) from the network conductance we modify the reconstruction mapping introduced in
section 3.2 for layered media. The approximation is obtained by interpolating the output of the reconstruction
mapping on the optimal grid computed for the reference (o) 1. This grid is described in sections 2.2 and

3.2.2. But which interpolation should we take? If we could have grids with as many points as we wish, the
choice of the interpolation would not matter. This was the case in section 3.3, where we studied the continuum
limit n for the inverse spectral problem. The EIT problem is exponentially unstable and the whole idea

of our approach is to have a sparse parametrization of the unknown . Thus, n is typically small, and the
approximation of should go beyond ad-hoc interpolations of the parameters returned by the reconstruction
mapping. We show in section 4.2.3 how to approximate with a Gauss-Newton iteration preconditioned
with the reconstruction mapping. We also explain briefly how one can introduce prior information about
in the inversion method.
4.2.1

The reconstruction mapping

The idea behind the reconstruction mapping is to interpret the resistor network (, ) determined from the
measured = Mn ( ) as a finite volumes discretization of the equation (1.1) on the optimal grid computed
for (o) 1. This is what we did in section 3.2 for the layered case, and the approach extends to the two
dimensional problem.

The conductivity is related to the conductances (E), for E E, via quadrature rules that approximate

the current fluxes (2.5) through the dual edges. We could use for example the quadrature in [15, 16, 52],
where the conductances are
L(a,b )
,
(4.2)
a,b = (Pa,b )
L(Ea,b )





(a, b) i, j 12 , i 12 , j and L denotes the arc length of the primary and dual edges E and (see
section 2.1 for the indexing and edge notation). Another example of quadrature is given in [13]. It is

specialized to tensor product grids in a disk, and it coincides with the quadrature (3.8) in the case of layered
media. For inversion purposes, the difference introduced by different quadrature rules is small (see [15,
Section 2.4]).
27

To define the reconstruction mapping Qn , we solve two inverse problems for resistor networks. One

with the measured data = Mn ( ), to determine the conductance , and one with the computed data
(o)

(o) = Mn ( ), for the reference (o) 1. The latter gives the reference conductance (o) which we
associate with the geometrical factor in (4.2)

(o)

a,b

L(a,b )
,
L(Ea,b )

so that we can write

(Pa,b ) a,b =

a,b
(o)

a,b

(4.3)

(4.4)

Note that (4.4) becomes (3.40) in the layered case, where (3.8) gives j = h /j+ 21 ,q and
bj = h j,q+ 12 .
The factors h cancel out.
Let us call Dn the set in Re of e = n(n 1)/2 independent measurements in Mn ( ), obtained by

removing the redundant entries. Note that there are e edges in the network, as many as the number of the

data points in Dn , given for example by the entries in the upper triangular part of Mn ( ), stacked column
by column in a vector in Re . By the consistency of the measurements (section 4.1.1), Dn coincides with

the set of the strictly upper triangular parts of the DtN maps of circular planar resistor networks with n
boundary nodes. The mapping Qn : Dn Re+ associates to the measurements in Dn the e positive values
a,b in (4.4).

We illustrate in Figure 7(b) the output of the mapping Qn , linearly interpolated on the optimal grid.

It gives a good approximation of the conductivity that is improved further in Figure 7(c) with the Gauss-

Newton iteration described below. The results in Figure 7 are obtained by solving the inverse problem for
the networks with a fast layer peeling algorithm [22]. Optimization can also be used for this purpose, at
some additional computational cost. In any case, because we have relatively few n(n 1)/2 parameters, the
cost is negligible compared to that of solving the forward problem on a fine grid.
4.2.2

The optimal grids and sensitivity functions

The definition of the tensor product optimal grids considered in sections 2.2 and 3 does not extend to
partial boundary measurement setups or to non-layered reference conductivity functions. We present here an
alternative approach to determining the location of the points Pa,b at which we approximate the conductivity
in the output (4.4) of the reconstruction mapping. This approach extends to arbitrary setups, and it is based
on the sensitivity analysis of the conductance function to changes in the conductivity [16].
The sensitivity grid points are defined as the maxima of the sensitivity functions D a,b (x). They are
the points at which the conductances a,b are most sensitive to changes in the conductivity. The sensitivity
functions D (x) are obtained by differentiating the identity () = Mn ( ) with respect to ,
1

vec (Mn (DK )(x)) ,
(D ) (x) = D | =Mn ( )

x .

(4.5)

The left hand side is a vector in Re . Its kth entry is the Frechet derivative of conductance k with respect

28

smooth

1.8

1.4

pcws constant

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 7: (a) True conductivity phantoms. (b) The output of the reconstruction mapping Qn , linearly
interpolated on a grid obtained for layered media as in section 3.2.2. (c) One step of Gauss-Newton improves
the reconstructions.
to changes in the conductivity . The entries of the Jacobian D Ree are

(D )jk =


vec


,

(4.6)

where vec(A) denotes the operation of stacking in a vector in Re the entries in the strict upper triangular
part of a matrix A Rnn . The last factor in (4.5) is the sensitivity of the measurements to changes of the
conductivity, given by

(Mn (DK ))ij (x) =

i (x)DK (x; x, y)j (y)dxdy,

BB

i 6= j,

X Z

i (x)DK (x; x, y)k (y)dxdy,

i = j.

(4.7)

k6=iBB

Here K (x, y) is the kernel of the DtN map evaluated at points x and y B. Its Jacobian to changes in the
conductivity is

DK (x; x, y) = (x)(y) {x (n(x) x G(x, x))} {x (n(y) y G(x, y))} ,

29

(4.8)

(0)

D 3/2,0 /3/2,0

(0)

D 3,1/2 /3,1/2

D 1,1/2 /1,1/2

D 5/2,0 /5/2,0

(0)

D 2,1/2 /2,1/2

(0)

(0)

D 7/2,0 /7/2,0

(0)

Figure 8: Sensitivity functions diag (1/ (0) )D computed around the conductivity = 1 for n = 13. The
images have a linear scale from dark blue to dark red spanning their maximum in absolute value. Light
green corresponds to zero. We only display 6 sensitivity functions, the other ones can be obtained by integer
multiple of 2/13 rotations. The primary grid is displayed in solid lines and the dual grid in dotted lines.
The maxima of the sensitivity functions are very close to those of the optimal grid (intersection of solid and
dotted lines).
where G is the Greens function of the differential operator u (u) with Dirichlet boundary conditions,

and n(x) is the outer unit normal at x B. For more details on the calculation of the sensitivity functions

see [16, Section 4].

The definition of the sensitivity grid points is

Pa,b = arg max (D a,b )(x),
x

evaluated at = (o) 1.

(4.9)

We display in Figure 8 the sensitivity functions with the superposed optimal grid obtained as in section 3.2.2.
Note that the maxima of the sensitivity functions are very close to the optimal grid points in the full
measurements case.
4.2.3

The preconditioned Gauss-Newton iteration

Since the reconstruction mapping Qn gives good reconstructions when properly interpolated, we can think of

it as an approximate inverse of the forward map Mn ( ) and use it as a non-linear preconditioner. Instead

30

of minimizing the misfit in the data, we solve the optimization problem

min kQn (vec (Mn ( ))) Qn (vec (Mn ( )))k22 .
>0

(4.10)

Here is the conductivity that we would like to recover. For simplicity the minimization (4.10) is formulated

with noiseless data and no regularization. We refer to [17] for a study of the effect of noise and regularization
on the minimization (4.10).
The positivity constraints in (4.10) can be dealt with by solving for the log-conductivity = ln()
instead of the conductivity . With this change of variable, the residual in (4.10) can be minimized with
the standard Gauss-Newton iteration, which we write in terms of the sensitivity functions (4.5) evaluated at
(j) = exp (j) :

 

(j+1) = (j) diag (1/ (0) ) D diag (exp (j) )
Qn (vec (Mn (exp (j) ))) Qn (vec (Mn ( ))) .

(4.11)

The superscript denotes the Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse and the division is understood componentwise.
We take as initial guess the log-conductivity (0) = ln (0) , where (0) is given by the linear interpolation

of Qn (vec (Mn ( )) on the optimal grid (i.e. the reconstruction from section 4.2.1). Having such a good

initial guess helps with the convergence of the Gauss-Newton iteration. Our numerical experiments indicate
that the residual in (4.10) is mostly reduced in the first iteration [13]. Subsequent iterations do not change
significantly the reconstructions and result in negligible reductions of the residual in (4.10). Thus, for
all practical purposes, the preconditioned problem is linear. We have also observed in [13, 17] that the
conditioning of the linearized problem is significantly reduced by the preconditioner Qn .
Remark 6. The conductivity obtained after one step of the Gauss-Newton iteration is in the span of the
sensitivity functions (4.5). The use of the sensitivity functions as an optimal parametrization of the unknown
conductivity was studied in [17]. Moreover, the same preconditioned Gauss-Newton idea was used in [37] for
the inverse spectral problem of section 3.2.
We illustrate the improvement of the reconstructions with one Gauss-Newton step in Figure 7 (c). If
prior information about the conductivity is available, it can be added in the form of a regularization term
in (4.10). An example using total variation regularization is given in [13].

Two dimensional media and partial boundary measurements

In this section we consider the two dimensional EIT problem with partial boundary measurements. As
mentioned in section 1, the boundary B is the union of the accessible subset BA and the inaccessible subset
BI . The accessible boundary BA may consist of one or multiple connected components. We assume that

the inaccessible boundary is grounded, so the partial boundary measurements are a set of Cauchy data


u|BA , (n u)|BA , where u satisfies (1.1) and u|BI = 0. The inverse problem is to determine from

these Cauchy data.

Our inversion method described in the previous sections extends to the partial boundary measurement
setup. But there is a significant difference concerning the definition of the optimal grids. The tensor product
grids considered so far are essentially one dimensional, and they rely on the rotational invariance of the
31

problem for (o) 1. This invariance does not hold for the partial boundary measurements, so new ideas

are needed to define the optimal grids. We present two approaches in sections 5.1 and 5.2. The first one uses
circular planar networks with the same topology as before, and mappings that take uniformly distributed
points on B to points on the accessible boundary BA . The second one uses networks with topologies designed

specifically for the partial boundary measurement setups. The underlying two dimensional optimal grids are
defined with sensitivity functions.

5.1

Coordinate transformations for the partial data problem

The idea of the approach described in this section is to map the partial data problem to one with full
measurements at equidistant points, where we know from section 4 how to define the optimal grids. Since
is a unit disk, we can do this with diffeomorphisms of the unit disk to itself.
Let us denote such a diffeomorphism by F and its inverse F 1 by G. If the potential u satisfies (1.1),
then the transformed potential u
e(x) = u(F (x)) solves the same equation with conductivity
e defined by
T

G0 (y)(y) (G0 (y))

e(x) =
|det G0 (y)|

(5.1)

y=F (x)

where G0 denotes the Jacobian of G. The conductivity

e is the push forward of by G, and it is denoted
T

by G . Note that if G0 (y) (G0 (y)) 6= I and det G0 (y) 6= 0, then

e is a symmetric positive definite tensor.
If its eigenvalues are distinct, then the push forward of an isotropic conductivity is anisotropic.

The push forward g of the DtN map is written in terms of the restrictions of diffeomorphisms G and

F to the boundary. We call these restrictions g = G|B and f = F |B and write

((g )uB )() = ( (uB g))( )| =f () ,

[0, 2),

(5.2)

for uB H 1/2 (B). It is shown in [64] that the DtN map is invariant under the push forward in the following
sense

g = G .

(5.3)

Therefore, given (5.3) we can compute the push forward of the DtN map, solve the inverse problem with
data g to obtain G , and then map it back using the inverse of (5.2). This requires the full knowledge

of the DtN map. However, if we use the discrete analogue of the above procedure, we can transform the
discrete measurements of on BA to discrete measurements at equidistant points on B, from which we can
estimate
e as described in section 4.

There is a major obstacle to this procedure: The EIT problem is uniquely solvable just for isotropic
conductivities. Anisotropic conductivities are determined by the DtN map only up to a boundary-preserving
diffeomorphism [64]. Two distinct approaches to overcome this obstacle are described in sections 5.1.1 and
5.1.2. The first one uses conformal mappings F and G, which preserve the isotropy of the conductivity, at
the expense of rigid placement of the measurement points. The second approach uses extremal quasiconformal mappings that minimize the artificial anisotropy of
e introduced by the placement at our will of the
measurement points in BA .

32

 = n +1
2

= n +1
2

= n +3
2

= n +3
2

Figure 9: The optimal grid in the unit disk (left) and its image under the conformal mapping F (right).
Primary grid lines are solid black, dual grid lines are dotted black. Boundary grid nodes: primary , dual
. The accessible boundary segment BA is shown in solid red.
5.1.1

Conformal mappings

The push forward G of an isotropic is isotropic if G and F satisfy G0 (G0 )T = I and F 0 (F 0 )T = I.
This means that the diffeomorphism is conformal and the push forward is simply
G = F.

(5.4)

Since all conformal mappings of the unit disk to itself belong to the family of Mobius transforms [48], F
must be of the form
F (z) = ei

za
,
1 az

z C, |z| 1, [0, 2), a C, |a| < 1,

(5.5)

where we associate R2 with the complex plane C. Note that the group of transformations (5.5) is extremely
rigid, its only degrees of freedom being the numerical parameters a and .
To use the full data discrete inversion procedure from section 4 we require that G maps the accessible


boundary segment BA = ei | [, ] to the whole boundary with the exception of one segment

between the equidistant measurement points k , k = (n + 1)/2, (n + 3)/2 as shown in Figure 9. This
determines completely the values of the parameters a and in (5.5) which in turn determine the mapping f
on the boundary. Thus, we have no further control over the positioning of the measurement points k = f (k ),
k = 1, . . . , n.
As shown in Figure 9 the lack of control over k leads to a grid that is highly non-uniform in angle. In
fact it is demonstrated in [15] that as n increases there is no asymptotic refinement of the grid away from
the center of BA , where the points accumulate. However, since the limit n is unattainable in practice

due to the severe ill-conditioning of the problem, the grids obtained by conformal mapping can still be useful
in practical inversion. We show reconstructions with these grids in section 5.3.

33

5.1.2

Extremal quasiconformal mappings

To overcome the issues with conformal mappings that arise due to the inherent rigidity of the group of
conformal automorphisms of the unit disk, we use here quasiconformal mappings. A quasiconformal mapping
F obeys a Beltrami equation in

F
F
= (z)
,
z
z

kk < 1,

(5.6)

with a Beltrami coefficient (z) that measures how much F differs from a conformal mapping. If 0,
then (5.6) reduces to the Cauchy-Riemann equation and F is conformal. The magnitude of also provides
a measure of the anisotropy of the push forward of by F . The definition of the anisotropy is
p
1 (z)/2 (z) 1
,
(F , z) = p
1 (z)/2 (z) + 1

(5.7)

where 1 (z), 2 (z) are the largest and the smallest eigenvalues of F respectively. The connection between
and is given by

(F , z) = |(z)|,

(5.8)

(F ) = sup (F , z) = kk .

(5.9)

and the maximum anisotropy is

z

Since the unknown conductivity is isotropic, we would like to minimize the amount of artificial anisotropy
that we introduce into the reconstruction by using F . This can be done with extremal quasiconformal mappings, which minimize kk under constraints that fix f = F |B , thus allowing us to control the positioning

of the measurement points k = f (k ), for k = 1, . . . , n.

For sufficiently regular boundary values f there exists a unique extremal quasiconformal mapping that
is known to be of a Teichm
uller type [63]. Its Beltrami coefficient satisfies
(z) = kk

(z)
,
|(z)|

(5.10)

for some holomorphic function (z) in . Similarly, we can define the Beltrami coefficient for G, using a
holomorphic function . It is established in [62] that F admits a decomposition
F = 1 AK ,
where
(z) =

Z p

(z)dz,

() =

(5.11)

Z p
()d,

(5.12)

are conformal away from the zeros of and , and

AK (x + iy) = Kx + iy

34

(5.13)

AK

Figure 10: Teichm

uller mapping decomposed into conformal mappings and , and an affine transform
AK . The poles of and and their images under and are F, the zeros of and and their images
under and are .

Figure 11: The optimal grid under the quasiconformal Teichm

uller mappings F with different K. Left:
K = 0.8 (smaller anisotropy); right: K = 0.66 (higher anisotropy). Primary grid lines are solid black, dual
grid lines are dotted black. Boundary grid nodes: primary , dual . The accessible boundary segment BA
is shown in solid red.
is an affine stretch, the only source of anisotropy in (5.11):


K 1
.
(F ) = kk = 
K + 1

(5.14)

Since only the behavior of f at the measurement points k is of interest to us, it is possible to construct
explicitly the mappings and [15]. They are Schwartz-Christoffel conformal mappings of the unit disk to
polygons of special form, as shown in Figure 10. See [15, Section 3.4] for more details.
We demonstrate the behavior of the optimal grids under the extremal quasiconformal mappings in Figure
11. We present the results for two different values of the affine stretching constant K. As we increase the
amount of anisotropy from K = 0.8 to K = 0.66, the distribution of the grid nodes becomes more uniform.
The price to pay for this more uniform grid is an increased amount of artificial anisotropy, which may
detriment the quality of the reconstruction, as shown in the numerical examples in section 5.3.

35

v4

v3
v2
v1

v3

v4

v5

v2

v5
v6

v6

v1

v7

Figure 12: Pyramidal networks n for n = 6, 7. The boundary nodes vj , j = 1, . . . , n are indicated with
and the interior nodes with .

5.2

Special network topologies for the partial data problem

The limitations of the construction of the optimal grids with coordinate transformations can be attributed
to the fact that there is no non-singular mapping between the full boundary B and its proper subset BA .

Here we describe an alternative approach, that avoids these limitations by considering networks with dif-

ferent topologies, constructed specifically for the partial measurement setups. The one-sided case, with the
accessible boundary BA consisting of one connected segment, is in section 5.2.1. The two sided case, with BA

the union of two disjoint segments, is in section 5.2.2. The optimal grids are constructed using the sensitivity
analysis of the discrete and continuum problems, as explained in sections 4.2.2 and 5.2.3.
5.2.1

Pyramidal networks for the one-sided problem

We consider here the case of BA consisting of one connected segment of the boundary. The goal is to choose

a topology of the resistor network based on the flow properties of the continuum partial data problem.
Explicitly, we observe that since the potential excitation is supported on BA , the resulting currents should
not penetrate deep into , away from BA . The currents are so small sufficiently far away from BA that in the
discrete (network) setting we can ask that there is no flow escaping the associated nodes. Therefore, these
nodes are interior ones. A suitable choice of networks that satisfy such conditions was proposed in [16]. We
call them pyramidal and denote their graphs by n , with n the number of boundary nodes.
We illustrate two pyramidal graphs in Figure 12, for n = 6 and 7. Note that it is not necessary that n
be odd for the pyramidal graphs n to be critical, as was the case in the previous sections. In what follows
we refer to the edges of n as vertical or horizontal according to their orientation in Figure 12. Unlike
the circular networks in which all the boundary nodes are in a sense adjacent, there is a gap between the
boundary nodes v1 and vn of a pyramidal network. This gap is formed by the bottommost n 2 interior

nodes that enforce the condition of zero normal flux, the approximation of the lack of penetration of currents
away from BA .

It is known from [23, 16] that the pyramidal networks are critical and thus uniquely recoverable from the

DtN map. Similar to the circular network case, pyramidal networks can be recovered using a layer peeling
algorithm in a finite number of algebraic operations. We recall such an algorithm below, from [16], in the
case of even n = 2m. A similar procedure can also be used for odd n.

36

Algorithm 1. To determine the conductance of the pyramidal network (n , ) from the DtN map (n) ,
perform the following steps:
(1) To compute the conductances of horizontal and vertical edges emanating from the boundary node vp ,
for each p = 1, . . . , 2m, define the following sets:
Z = {v1 , . . . , vp1 , vp+1 , . . . , vm }, C = {vm+2 , . . . , v2m },

H = {v1 , . . . , vp } and V = {vp , . . . , vm+1 }, in the case p m.

Z = {vm+1 , . . . , vp1 , vp+1 , . . . , v2m }, C = {v1 , . . . , vm1 },

H = {vp , . . . , v2m } and V = {vm , . . . , vp }, for m + 1 p 2m.

(2) Compute the conductance (Ep,h ) of the horizontal edge emanating from vp using

(Ep,h ) =

(n)
p,H

(n)
p,C

(n)
Z,C

1

(n)
Z,H


1H ,

(5.15)

compute the conductance (Ep,v ) of the vertical edge emanating from vp using



1
(n)
(n)
(n)
(n)
(Ep,v ) = p,V p,C Z,C
Z,V 1V ,

(5.16)

where 1V and 1H are column vectors of all ones.

(3) Once (Ep,h ), (Ep,v ) are known, peel the outer layer from n to obtain the subgraph n2 with the set
S = {w1 , . . . , w2m2 } of boundary nodes. Assemble the blocks KSS , KSB , KBS , KBB of the Kirchhoff
matrix of (n , ), and compute the updated DtN map (n2) of the smaller network (n2 , ), as
follows
(n2) = K0SS KSB PT

P ((n) KBB ) PT

1

P KBS .

(5.17)

Here P R(n2)n is a projection operator: PPT = In2 , and K0SS is a part of KSS that only includes
the contributions from the edges connecting S to B.

(4) If m = 1 terminate. Otherwise, decrease m by 1, update n = 2m and go back to step 1.

Similar to the layer peeling method in [22], Algorithm 1 is based on the construction of special solutions.
In steps 1 and 2 the special solutions are constructed implicitly, to enforce a unit potential drop on edges Ep,h
and Ep,v emanating from the boundary node vp . Since the DtN map is known, so is the current at vp , which
equals to the conductance of an edge due to a unit potential drop on that edge. Once the conductances are
determined for all the edges adjacent to the boundary, the layer of edges is peeled off and the DtN map of a
smaller network n2 is computed in step 3. After m layers have been peeled off, the network is completely
recovered. The algorithm is studied in detail in [16], where it is also shown that all matrices that are inverted
in (5.15), (5.16) and (5.17) are non-singular.
Remark 7. The DtN update formula (5.17) provides an interesting connection to the layered case. It can
be viewed as a matrix generalization of the continued fraction representation (3.36). The difference between
the two formulas is that (3.36) expresses the eigenvalues of the DtN map, while (5.17) gives an expression
for the DtN map itself.

37

Figure 13:
5.2.2

Two-sided network Tn for n = 10. Boundary nodes vj , j = 1, . . . , n are , interior nodes are .

The two-sided problem

We call the problem two-sided when the accessible boundary BA consists of two disjoint segments of B. A

suitable network topology for this setting was introduced in [17]. We call these networks two-sided and
denote their graphs by Tn , with n the number of boundary nodes assumed even n = 2m. Half of the nodes

are on one segment of the boundary and the other half on the other, as illustrated in Figure 13. Similar to
the one-sided case, the two groups of m boundary nodes are separated by the outermost interior nodes, which
model the lack of penetration of currents away from the accessible boundary segments. One can verify that
the two-sided network is critical, and thus it can be uniquely recovered from the DtN map by the Algorithm
2 introduced in [17].
When referring to either the horizontal or vertical edges of a two sided network, we use their orientation
in Figure 13.
Algorithm 2. To determine the conductance of the two-sided network (Tn , ) from the DtN map ,
perform the following steps:
(1) Peel the lower layer of horizontal resistors:
For p = m + 2, m + 3, . . . , 2m define the sets Z = {p + 1, p + 2, . . . , p + m 1} and C = {p 2, p

3, . . . , p m}. The conductance of the edge Ep,q,h between vp and vq , q = p 1 is given by

(Ep,q,h ) = p,q + p,C (Z,C )1 Z,q .

(5.18)

Assemble a symmetric tridiagonal matrix A with off-diagonal entries (Ep,p1,h ) and rows summing
to zero. Update the lower right m-by-m block of the DtN map by subtracting A from it.
(2) Let s = m 1.
(3) Peel the top and bottom layers of vertical resistors:
For p = 1, 2, . . . , 2m define the sets L = {p 1, p 2, . . . , p s} and R = {p + 1, p + 2, . . . , p + s}. If

38

p < m/2 for the top layer, or p > 3m/2 for the bottom layer, set Z = L, C = R. Otherwise let Z = R,
C = L. The conductance of the vertical edge emanating from vp is given by
(Ep,v ) = p,p p,C (Z,C )1 Z,p .

(5.19)

Let D = diag ((Ep,v )) and update the DtN map

1

= D D ( + D)

D.

(5.20)

(4) If s = 1 go to step (7). Otherwise decrease s by 2.

(5) Peel the top and bottom layers of horizontal resistors:
For p = 1, 2, . . . , 2m define the sets L = {p 1, p 2, . . . , p s} and R = {p + 2, p + 3, . . . , p + s + 1}. If
p < m/2 for the top layer, or p < 3m/2 for the bottom layer, set Z = L, C = R, q = p + 1. Otherwise

let Z = R, C = L, q = p 1. The conductance of the edge connecting vp and vq is given by (5.18).

Update the upper left and lower right blocks of the DtN map as in step (1).

(6) If s = 0 go to step (7), otherwise go to (3).

(7) Determine the last layer of resistors. If m is odd the remaining vertical resistors are the diagonal
entries of the DtN map. If m is even, the remaining resistors are horizontal. The leftmost of the
remaining horizontal resistors (E1,2,h ) is determined from (5.18) with p = 1, q = m + 1, C = {1, 2},

Z = {m + 1, m + 2} and a change of sign. The rest are determined by

(Ep,p+1,h ) = p,H p,C (Z,C )1 Z,H 1,

(5.21)

where p = 2, 3, . . . , m1, C = {p1, p, p+1}, Z = {p+m1, p+m, p+m+1}, H = {p+m1, p+m},

and 1 is a vector (1, 1)T .

Similar to Algorithm 1, Algorithm 2 is based on the construction of special solutions examined in [22, 24].
These solutions are designed to localize the flow on the outermost edges, whose conductance we determine
first. In particular, formulas (5.18) and (5.19) are known as the boundary edge and boundary spike
formulas [24, Corollaries 3.15 and 3.16].
5.2.3

Sensitivity grids for pyramidal and two-sided networks

The underlying grids of the pyramidal and two-sided networks are truly two dimensional, and they cannot
be constructed explicitly as in section 3 by reducing the problem to a one dimensional one. We define
the grids with the sensitivity function approach described in section 4.2.2. The computed sensitivity grid
points are presented in Figure 14, and we observe a few important properties. First, the neighboring points
corresponding to the same type of resistors (vertical or horizontal) form rather regular virtual quadrilaterals.
Second, the points corresponding to different types of resistors interlace in the sense of lying inside the
virtual quadrilaterals formed by the neighboring points of the other type. Finally, while there is some
refinement near the accessible boundary (more pronounced in the two-sided case), the grids remain quite
uniform throughout the covered portion of the domain.
39

Figure 14: Sensitivity optimal grids in the unit disk for the pyramidal network n (left) and the two-sided
network Tn (right) with n = 16. The accessible boundary segments BA are solid red. Blue  correspond to
vertical edges, red F correspond to horizontal edges, measurement points are black .
Note from Figure 13 that the graph Tn lacks the upside-down symmetry. Thus, it is possible to come
up with two sets of optimal grid nodes, by fitting the measured DtN map Mn ( ) once with a two-sided
network and the second time with the network turned upside-down. This way the number of nodes in the
grid is essentially doubled, thus doubling the resolution of the reconstruction. However, this approach can
only improve resolution in the direction transversal to the depth, as shown in [17, Section 2.5].

5.3

Numerical results

We present in this section numerical reconstructions with partial boundary measurements. The reconstructions with the four methods from sections 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.2.1 and 5.2.2 are compared row by row in Figure
15. We use the same two test conductivities as in Figure 7(a). Each row in Figure 15 corresponds to one
method. For each test conductivity, we show first the piecewise linear interpolation of the entries returned
by the reconstruction mapping Qn , on the optimal grids (first and third column in Figure 15). Since these

grids do not cover the entire , we display the results only in the subset of populated by the grid points.
We also show the reconstructions after one-step of the Gauss-Newton iteration (4.11) (second and fourth
columns in Figure 15).
As expected, the reconstructions with the conformal mapping grids are the worst. The highly nonuniform conformal mapping grids cannot capture the details of the conductivities away from the middle of
the accessible boundary. The reconstructions with quasiconformal grids perform much better, capturing the
details of the conductivities much more uniformly throughout the domain. Although the piecewise linear
reconstructions Qn have slight distortions in the geometry, these distortions are later removed by the first
step of the Gauss-Newton iteration. The piecewise linear reconstructions with pyramidal and two-sided
networks avoid the geometrical distortions of the quasiconformal case, but they are also improved after one
step of the Gauss-Newton iteration.
Note that while the Gauss-Newton step improves the geometry of the reconstructions, it also introduces

40

Figure 15: Reconstructions with partial data. Same conductivities are used as in figure 7. Two leftmost
columns: smooth conductivity. Two rightmost columns: piecewise constant chest phantom. Columns 1
and 3: piecewise linear reconstructions. Columns 2 and 4: reconstructions after one step of Gauss-Newton
iteration (4.11). Rows from top to bottom: conformal mapping, quasiconformal mapping, pyramidal network,
two-sided network. Accessible boundary BA is solid red. Centers of supports of measurement (electrode)
functions q are .

41

some spurious oscillations. This is more pronounced for the piecewise constant conductivity phantom (fourth
column in Figure 15). To overcome this problem one may consider regularizing the Gauss-Newton iteration
(4.11) by adding a penalty term of some sort. For example, for the piecewise constant phantom, we could
penalize the total variation of the reconstruction, as was done in [13].

Summary

We presented a discrete approach to the numerical solution of the inverse problem of electrical impedance
tomography (EIT) in two dimensions. Due to the severe ill-posedness of the problem, it is desirable to
parametrize the unknown conductivity (x) with as few parameters as possible, while still capturing the
best attainable resolution of the reconstruction. To obtain such a parametrization, we used a discrete, model
reduction formulation of the problem. The discrete models are resistor networks with special graphs.
We described in detail the solvability of the model reduction problem. First, we showed that boundary
measurements of the continuum Dirichlet to Neumann (DtN) map for the unknown (x) define matrices
that belong to the set of discrete DtN maps for resistor networks. Second, we described the types of network
graphs appropriate for different measurement setups. By appropriate we mean those graphs that ensure
unique recoverability of the network from its DtN map. Third, we showed how to determine the networks.
We established that the key ingredient in the connection between the discrete model reduction problem
(inverse problem for the network) and the continuum EIT problem is the optimal grid. The name optimal
refers to the fact that finite volumes discretizations on these grids give spectrally accurate approximations
of the DtN map, the data in EIT. We defined reconstructions of the conductivity using the optimal grids,
and studied them in detail in three cases: (1) The case of layered media and full boundary measurements,
where the problem can be reduced to one dimension via Fourier transforms. (2) The case of two dimensional
media with measurement access to the entire boundary. (3) The case of two dimensional media with access
to a subset of the boundary.
We presented the available theory behind our inversion approach and illustrated its performance with
numerical simulations.

Acknowledgements
The work of L. Borcea was partially supported by the National Science Foundation grants DMS-0934594,
DMS-0907746 and by the Office of Naval Research grant N000140910290. The work of F. Guevara Vasquez
was partially supported by the National Science Foundation grant DMS-0934664. The work of A.V. Mamonov
was partially supported by the National Science Foundation grants DMS-0914465 and DMS-0914840. LB,
FGV and AVM were also partially supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Security
Agency, during the Fall 2010 special semester on Inverse Problems at MSRI, Berkeley, CA.

42

The quadrature formulas

To understand definitions (3.8), recall Figure 1. Take for example the dual edge
i 12 ,j = (Pi 12 ,j 12 , Pi 21 ,j 12 ),
where Pi 12 ,j 21 = rbi (cos bj , sin bj ). We have from (2.5), and the change of variables to z(r) that
Z

(x)n(x) u(x)ds(x) =

bj+1

rbi1 (b
ri1 )

bj

i 1 ,j
2

u(b
ri1 , )
u(b
ri1 , j )
h (Ui1,j Ui,j )
d h

,
r
z
z(ri ) z(ri1 )

which gives the first equation in (3.8). Similarly, the flux across
i,j+ 21 = (Pi 21 ,j+ 12 , Pi+ 21 ,j+ 12 ),
is given by
Z

(x)n(x) u(x)ds(x)

Z
=

i,j+ 1

r
bi1

r
bi

Z
u(ri , bj+1 ) rbi1(r)
(r) u(r, bj+1 )
dr
dr
r

r
r
bi

(b
z (b
ri ) zb(b
ri1 ))

Ui,j+1 U (i, j)
,
h

which gives the second equation in (3.8).

Continued fraction representation

Let us begin with the system of equations satisfied by the potential Vj , which we rewrite as
bj

= bj+1 +
bj+1 Vj+1 ,

b0

B ,

V`+1

0,

j = 0, 1, . . . `,
(2.1)

where we let
Vj = Vj+1 + j bj .

(2.2)

Combining the first equation in (2.2) with (2.2), we obtain the recursive relation
1

bj
=
Vj
j +

bj+1 +

bj+1
Vj+1

43

j = 1, 2, . . . , `,

(2.3)

which we iterate for j decreasing from j = ` 1 to 1, and starting with

b`
1
=
.
V`
`

(2.4)

The latter follows from the first equation in (2.1) evaluated at j = `, and boundary condition V`+1 = 0. We
obtain that
F () = V1 /B =

V1
V1
=
=
b0
b1 +
b1 V1

b1 +

(2.5)

b1
V1

has the continued fraction representation (3.36).

Derivation of results (3.47-3.48)

To derive equation (3.47) let us begin with the Fourier series of the electrode functions
q () =

Cq (k)eik =

kZ

Cq (k)eik ,

(3.6)

kZ

where the bar denotes complex conjugate and the coefficients are
Cq () =

1
2

q ()eik d =

eikq
sinc
2

kh
2


.

(3.7)

Then, we have
Z
( )p,q

p () q ()d =
0

Cp (k)Cq

k,k0 Z

(k 0 )



2
kh
1 X ik(p q )
e
f (k 2 ) sinc
,
2
2

kZ

eik eik d

p 6= q.

(3.8)

The diagonal entries are

( )p,p =

( )p,q

q6=p

2 X


1 X ikp
kh
2
=
e
eikq .
f (k ) sinc
2
2
kZ

(3.9)

q6=p

But
X
q6=p

eikq =

n
X

ei

2k
n (q1)

q=1

eikp = eik(11/n)

sin(k)
eikp = nk,0 eikp .
sin(k/n)

(3.10)

Since f (0) = 0, we obtain from (3.9-3.12) that (3.8) holds for p = q, as well. This is the result (3.47).
Moreover, (3.48) follows from


2 X
n
n
X



1 X ik1 p
k1 h
eik p =
( )p,q eikq =
e
f (k12 ) sinc
ei(kk1 )q ,
2
2
q=1
q=1
k1 Z

44

(3.11)

and the identity

n
X

ei(kk1 )q =

q=1

n
X

ei

2(kk1 )
(q1)
n

= nk,k1 .

(3.12)

q=1

Rational interpolation and Euclidean division

Consider the case m1/2 = 1, where F () = 1/F () follows from (3.36). We rename the coefficients as
2j1 =
bj ,

2j = j ,

j = 1, . . . `,

(4.13)

and let = x2 to obtain

1

F (x2 )
= 1 x +
x

2 x + . . .

2`1 x +

(4.14)

1
2` x

To determine j , for j = 1, . . . , 2`, we write first (4.14) as the ratio of two polynomials of x, P2` (x) and
Q2`1 (x) of degrees 2` and 2` 1 respectively, and seek their coefficients cj ,
c2` x2` + c2(`1) x2(`1) + . . . + c2 x2 + c0
P2` (x)
F (x2 )
=
=
.
x
Q2`1 (x)
c2`1 x2`1 + c2`3 x2`3 + . . . + c1 x

(4.15)

We normalize the ratio by setting c0 = 1.

Now suppose that we have measurements of F at k = x2k , for k = 1, . . . , 2`, and introduce the notation
F (x2k )
= Dk .
xk

(4.16)

We obtain from (4.15) the following linear system of equations for the coefficients
P2` (xk ) Dk Q2`1 (xk ) = 0,

k = 1, . . . , 2`,

(4.17)

or in matrix form

D1 x1

D2 x2

D2` x2`

x21
x22
x22`

D1 x31

...

D2 x32

...
..
.

D2` x32`

...

D1 x2`1
1

D2 x2`1
2

2`1
D2` x2`

x2`
1

c1

x2`
2

c2
..
.

= 1,

x2`
2`

c2`

(4.18)

with right hand side a vector of all ones. The coefficients are obtained by inverting the Vandermonde-like
matrix in (4.18). In the special case of the rational interpolation (3.43), it is precisely a Vandermonde matrix.
Since the condition number of such matrices grows exponentially with their size [33], the determination of
{cj }j=1,...,2` is an ill-posed problem, as stated in Remark 1.

Once we have determined the polynomials P2` (x) and Q2`1 (x), we can obtain {j }j=1,...2` by Euclidean

45

polynomial division. Explicitly, let us introduce a new polynomial P2`2 (x) = e

c2`2 x2`2 + . . . e
c0 , so that
1

2 x + . . .

3 x + . . .

2`1 x +

Q2`1 (x)
,
P2`2 (x)

1 x +

P2`2 (x)
P2` (x)
=
.
Q2`1 (x)
Q2`1 (x)

(4.19)

1
2` x

Equating powers of x we get

1 =

c2`
,
c2`1

(4.20)

and the coefficients of the polynomial P2`2 (x) are determined by

e
c2j

c2j 1 c2j1 ,

e
c0

j = 1, . . . , ` 1,

(4.21)

= c0 .

(4.22)

Then, we proceed similarly to get 2 , and introduce a new polynomial Q2`3 (x) so that
1

3 x + . . .

4 x + . . .

2`1 x +

P2`2 (x)
,
Q2`3 (x)

2 x +

Q2`3 (x)
Q2`1 (x)
=
.
P2`2 (x)
P2`2 (x)

(4.23)

1
2` x

Equating powers of x we get 2 = c2`1 /e

c2`2 and the polynomial Q2`3 (x) and so on.

The Lanczos iteration

Let us write the Jacobi matrix (3.31) as

a1

b1
e
A=
..
.

b1

...

...

a2
..
.

b2
..
.

0
..
.

...
..
.

0
..
.

0
..

...

...

b`1

a`

(5.24)

where aj are the negative diagonal entries and bj the positive off-diagonal ones. Let also
= diag(12 , . . . , `2 )

(5.25)

be the diagonal matrix of the eigenvalues and

p
p
e j = diag(
Y
b1 , . . . ,
b` )Yj

46

(5.26)

e = (Y
e 1, . . . , Y
e ` ) is orthogonal
the eigenvectors. They are orthonormal and the matrix Y
eY
eT = Y
eTY
e = I.
Y

(5.27)

e = Y
e Y
e T or, equivalently,
The spectral theorem gives that A
eY
e = Y.
e
A

(5.28)

e by taking equations (5.28) row by row.

The Lanczos iteration [65, 20] determines the entries aj and bj in A
e
Let us denote the rows of Y by
e
Wj = eTj Y,

j = 1, . . . , `,

(5.29)

and observe from (5.28) that they are orthonormal

Wj Wq = j,q

(5.30)

We get for j = 1 that

kW1 k2 =

`
X

b1 Y1,j
=
b1

j=1

`
X

j = 1,

(5.31)

j=1

which determines
b1 , and we can set
W1 =

b1

p

1 , . . . ,

p 
` .

(5.32)

The first row in equation (5.28) gives

a1 W1 + b1 W2 = W1 ,

(5.33)

and using the orthogonality in (5.30), we obtain

a1 = W1 W1T =

`
X

j2 j ,

b1 = ka1 W1 W1 k,

j=1

(5.34)

and
W2 = b1
1 (a1 W1 W1 ) .

(5.35)

The second row in equation (5.28) gives

b1 W1 a2 W2 + b2 W3 = W2 ,

(5.36)

and we can compute a2 and b2 as follows,

a2 = W2 W2T ,

b2 = ka2 W2 W2 b1 W1 k.

47

(5.37)

Moreover,
W3 = b1
2 (a2 W2 W2 b1 W1 ) ,

(5.38)

and the equation continues to the next row.

Once we have determined {aj }j=1,...,` and {bj }1,...,`1 with the Lanczos iteration described above, we

can compute {j ,
bj }j=1,...,` . We already have from (5.31) that

b1 = 1/

`
X

j .

(5.39)

j=1

The remaining parameters are determined from the identities

1
1
j,1 + (1 j,1 )
aj =

b1 1

bj

1
1
+
j
j1


,

bj =

1
.

bj
bj+1

(5.40)

Proofs of Lemma 3 and Corollary 1

(q)

(q)

To prove Lemma 3, let A(q) be the tridiagonal matrix with entries defined by {j ,
bj }j=1,...,` , like in

(3.29). It is the discretization of the operator in (3.58) with

defined by

(o)
(o)
{j ,
bj }j=1,...,` ,

(q) . Similarly, let A(o) be the matrix

the discretization of the second derivative operator for conductivity (o) . By

the uniqueness of solution of the inverse spectral problem and (3.82-3.83), the matrices A(q) and A(o) are
related by
v
v
v
v
u (o)
u (q)
u (q)
u (o)
u
u
u
u

b
b
b

b
diag t 1(o) , . . . , t `(o) A(q) diag t 1(q) , . . . , t `(q) = A(o) q I.

b1

b`

b1

b`
(q)

They have eigenvectors Yj

(o)

and Yj

(6.41)

respectively, related by

q


q
q
q
(q)
(q)
(o)
(o)
(o)
(q)
diag

b1 , . . . ,
b`

b1 , . . . ,
b`
Yj ,
Yj = diag

j = 1, . . . , `,

(6.42)

e with columns (6.42) is orthogonal. Thus, we have the identity

and the matrix Y


(q)

(o)

which gives
b1 =
b1

eY
eT
Y


11

(q)

b1

`
X

(q)

(o)

b1

`
X

(o) = 1,

(6.43)

j=1

j=1

by (3.82) or, equivalently

(q)

1 =

(q)

b1

(o)

b1

= 1 = (q) (0).

(6.44)

Moreover, straightforward algebraic manipulations of the equations in (6.41) and definitions (3.84) give the
finite difference equations (3.85). .

48

To prove Corollary 1, recall the definitions (3.84) and (3.87) to write

j
X

(q)

bj

(q)
bj+1

(q)

()d =

p=1

j
X

bp(o) p(q)

p=1

j
X

bp(o) (q) (p(o) ) + o(1).

(6.45)

p=1

Here we used the convergence result in Theorem 2 and denote by o(1) a negligible residual in the limit
` . We have

(q)
bj+1

(o)
bj+1

(q)

()d =

j
X

bp(o) (q) (p(o) )

p=1

(o)
bj+1

(q) ()d + o(1),

(6.46)

and therefore
Z b(o)

j
 j+1



X
 b(q)



(o)
(q)
(o)
(q)
(o)
()d

bp (p ) + o(1),
j+1 bj+1  C 
 0


C = 1/ min (q) ().

p=1

(6.47)

(o)

But the first term in the bound is just the error of the quadrature on the optimal grid, with nodes at j and
(o)
(o)
(o)
weights
b = b b , and it converges to zero by the properties of the optimal grid stated in Lemma 2
j

j+1

and the smoothness of (q) (). Thus, we have shown that



 b(q)
(o) 
j+1 bj+1  0,
(q)

uniformly in j. The proof for the primary nodes j

as ` ,

(6.48)

is similar. .

Perturbation analysis

It is shown in [14, Appendix B] that the skew-symmetric matrix B given in (3.93) has eigenvalues ij and
eigenvectors

T
1 
Y(j ) = Y1 (j ), iYb1 (j ), . . . , Y` (j ), iYb` (j ) ,
2

(7.49)

where
 1

1
T
(Y1 (j ), . . . , Y` (j )) = diag
b12 , . . . ,
b`2 Yj ,
T

Yj = (Y1,j , . . . , Y`,j )

the vector with entries

G.1

T

 1
1
b j , (7.50)
Yb1 (j ), . . . , Yb` (j )
= diag 12 , . . . , `2 Y


T
b j = Yb1,j , . . . , Yb`,j
are the eigenvectors of matrix A for eigenvalues j2 and Y
is
Yp+1,j Yp,j
Ybp,j =
.
j j

(7.51)

Discrete GelfandLevitan formulation

It is difficult to carry a precise perturbation analysis of the recursive Lanczos iteration that gives B from
the spectral data. We use instead the following discrete GelfandLevitan formulation due to Natterer [58].
Consider the reference matrix Br , for an arbitrary, but fixed r [0, 1], and define the lower triangular,

49

transmutation matrix G, satisfying

EGB = EBr G,

eT1 G = eT1 ,

(7.52)

where E = I e2` eT2` . Clearly, if B = Br , then G = Gr = I, the identity. In general G is lower triangular
and it is uniquely defined as shown with a Lanczos iteration argument in [14, Section 6.2].
Next, consider the initial value problem
EB() = iE(),

eT1 () = 1,

(7.53)

which has a unique solution () C2` , as shown in [14, Section 6.2]. When = j , one of the eigenvalues
of B, we have

2
(j ) =
Y(j ) =
Y1 (j )

2
Y(j ),

b 1 j

(7.54)

and (7.53) holds even for E replaced by the identity matrix. The analogue of (7.53) for Br is
EBr r () = iEr (),

eT1 r () = 1,

(7.55)

and, using (7.52) and the lower triangular structure of G, we obtain

r (j ) = G(j ),

1 j `.

(7.56)

Equivalently, in matrix form (7.56) and (7.54) give

r = G = GYS,

(7.57)

where is the matrix with columns (7.54), Y is the orthogonal matrix of eigenvectors of B with columns
(7.49), and S is the diagonal scaling matrix
r
S=



2
1/2 1/2
1/2 1/2
diag 1
, 1
, . . . , `
, `
.

b1

(7.58)

Then, letting
F = r S1 = GY

(7.59)

and using the orthogonality of Y we get

T

FF = GGT ,

(7.60)

where the bar denotes complex conjugate. Moreover, equation (7.52) gives
EBr F = EBr GY = EGBY = iEGYD = iEFD,

(7.61)

where iD = idiag (1 , 1 , . . . , ` , ` ) is the matrix of the eigenvalues of B.

The discrete Gelfand-Levitans inversion method proceeds as follows: Start with a known reference

matrix Br , for some r [0, 1]. The usual choice is B0 = B(o) , the matrix corresponding to the constant
50

coefficient (o) 1. Determine r from (7.55), with a Lanczos iteration as explained in [14, Section 6.2].

Then, F = r S1 is determined by the spectral data jr and jr , for 1 j `. The matrix G is obtained

from (7.60) by a Cholesky factorization, and B follows by solving (7.52), using a Lanczos iteration.

G.2

Perturbation estimate

Consider the perturbations dj = j dr and dj = j dr of the spectral data of reference matrix Br . We

denote the perturbed quantities with a tilde as in
e = Dr + dD,
D

e = Sr + dS,
S

e = Y r + dY,
Y

e = Y r + dF,
F

(7.62)

with D, S, Y and F defined above. Note that Fr = Y r , because Gr = I. Substituting (7.62) in (7.61) and
using (7.55), we get
EBr dF = iE Y r dD + iE dF Dr .
Now multiply by Y r

(7.63)

on the right and use that Dr Y r = iY r Br to obtain that dW = dFY r

EBr dW E dW Br = iE Y r dD Y r ,

satisfies
(7.64)

with initial condition

eT1 dW

T
eT1 dF Y r

r
=

!
r
r
r
T

b 1 1

b1 1

b` `

b ` `
,d
,...,d
,d
Yr .
2
2
2
2

(7.65)

Similarly, we get from (7.52) and Gr = I that

E dB + E dG Br = EBr dG,

eT1 dG = 0.

(7.66)

Furthermore, equation (7.60) and Fr = Y r give

T

dF Y r + Y r dF = dW + dW = dG + dGT .

(7.67)

Equations (7.64-(7.67) allow us to estimate dj /jr . Indeed, consider the j, j + 1 component in (7.66)
and use (7.67) and the structure of G, dG and Br to get
dj
= dGj+1,j+1 dGj,j = dWj+1,j+1 dWj,j ,
jr

j = 1, . . . , 2` 1.

(7.68)

The right hand side is given by the components of dW satisfying (7.64-7.65) and calculated explicitly in [14,
Appendix C] in terms of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of Br . Then, the estimate



 dj 
 r  C1 dr
 j 

2`1
X
j=1

(7.69)

which is equivalent to (3.98) follows after some calculation given in [14, Section 6.3], using the assumptions
(o)

(3.74) on the asymptotic behavior of j and j , i.e., of jr j

51

(o)

= rj and jr j

= rj .

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