On an inverse problem for tree‐like networks of elastic strings

Abstract

Abstract We consider the in‐plane motion of elastic strings on tree‐like network, observed from the ‘leaves’. We investigate the inverse problem of recovering not only the physical properties, i.e. the ‘optical lengths’ of each string, but also the topology of the tree which is represented by the edge degrees and the angles between branching edges. To this end we use the Boundary Control method for wave equations on graphs established in [4, 7]. It is shown that under generic assumptions the inverse problem can be solved by applying measurements at all leaves, the root of the tree being fixed.