  This work is concerned with uncertainty quantification problems for image
reconstructions in quantitative photoacoustic imaging (PAT), a recent hybrid
imaging modality that utilizes the photoacoustic effect to achieve
high-resolution imaging of optical properties of tissue-like heterogeneous
media. We quantify mathematically and computationally the impact of
uncertainties in various model parameters of PAT on the accuracy of
reconstructed optical properties. We derive, via sensitivity analysis,
analytical bounds on error in image reconstructions in some simplified
settings, and develop a computational procedure, based on the method of
polynomial chaos expansion, for such error characterization in more general
settings. Numerical simulations based on synthetic data are presented to
illustrate the main ideas.
