On an inverse boundary problem for mean field games

In this paper, we propose and study an inverse boundary problem for the mean field games (MFGs) governed by the first-order master equation in a bounded domain. We establish the unique identifiability result by showing that the running cost function within any given proper (state) space-time subdomain is uniquely determined by the MFG boundary data of this subdomain. There are several salient features of our study. The MFG system couples two nonlinear parabolic PDEs with one forward in time and the other one backward in time, and moreover there is a probability measure constraint. These make the inverse problem study new to the literature and highly challenging. We develop an effective and efficient scheme in tackling the inverse problem including the high-order variation in the probability space around a nontrivial distribution, and the construction of a novel class of CGO solutions to serve as the ``probing modes". Our study opens up a new field of research on inverse problems for MFGs.