Techniques are proposed for solving integral equations of the first kind with an input known not precisely. The requirement that the solution sought for includes a given number of maxima and minima is imposed. It is shown that when the deviation of t
he approximate input from the true one is sufficiently small and some additional conditions are fulfilled the method leads to an approximate solution that is necessarily close to the true solution. No regularization is required in the present approach. Requirements on features of the solution at integration limits are also imposed. The problem is treated with the help of an ansatz proposed for the derivative of the solution. The ansatz is the most general one compatible with the above mentioned requirements. The techniques are tested with exactly solvable examples.
Integral transform approaches are numerous in many fields of physics, but in most cases limited to the use of the Laplace kernel. However, it is well known that the inversion of the Laplace transform is very problematic, so that the function related
to the physical observable is in most cases unaccessible. The great advantage of kernels of bell-shaped form has been demonstrated in few-body nuclear systems. In fact the use of the Lorentz kernel has allowed to overcome the stumbling block of the ab initio description of reactions to the full continuum of systems of more than three particles. The problem of finding kernels of similar form, applicable to many-body problems deserves particular attention. If this search were successful the integral transform approach might represent the only viable ab initio access to many observables that are not calculable directly.
The LIT method has allowed ab initio calculations of electroweak cross sections in light nuclear systems. This review presents a description of the method from both a general and a more technical point of view, as well as a summary of the results obt
ained by its application. The remarkable features of the LIT approach, which make it particularly efficient in dealing with a general reaction involving continuum states, are underlined. Emphasis is given on the results obtained for electroweak cross sections of few--nucleon systems. Their implications for the present understanding of microscopic nuclear dynamics are discussed.
A procedure to solve few-body problems which is based on an expansion over a small parameter is developed. The parameter is the ratio of potential energy to kinetic energy in the subspace of states having not small hyperspherical quantum numbers, K>K
_0. Dynamic equations are reduced perturbatively to those in the finite subspace with K le K_0. The contribution from the subspace with K>K_0 is taken into account in a closed form, i.e. without an expansion over basis functions.
