The interior Backus problem: local resolution in Holder spaces

We prove an existence result for the interior Backus problem in the Euclidean ball. The problem consists in determining a harmonic function in the ball from the knowledge of the modulus of its gradient on the boundary. The problem is severely nonlinear. From a physical point of view, the problem can be interpreted as the determination of the velocity potential of an incompressible and irrotational fluid inside the ball from measurements of the velocity field’s modulus on the boundary. The linearized problem is an irregular oblique derivative problem, for which a phenomenon of loss of derivatives occurs. As a consequence, a solution by linearization of the Backus problem becomes problematic. Here, we linearize the problem around the vertical height solution and show that the loss of derivatives does not occur for solutions which are either (vertically) axially symmetric or oddly symmetric in the vertical direction. A standard fixed point argument is then feasible, based on ad hoc weighted estimates in Hölder spaces.