Ju n 20 06 Range descriptions for the spherical mean Radon transform . I . Functions supported in a ball . ∗

The transform considered in the paper averages a function supported in a ball in Rn over all spheres centered at the boundary of the ball. This Radon type transform arises in several contemporary applications, e.g. in thermoacoustic tomography and sonar and radar imaging. Range descriptions for such transforms are important in all these areas, for instance when dealing with incomplete data, error correction, and other issues. Three different types of complete range descriptions are provided, some of which also suggest inversion procedures. Necessity of two of these (appropriately formulated) conditions holds also in general domains, while the complete discussion of the case of general domains will require another publication.