  The physical parameters of Herbig-Haro jets are usually determined from
emission line ratios, obtained from spectroscopy or narrow band imaging,
assuming that the emitting region is homogeneous along the line of sight. Under
the more general hypothesis of axisymmetry, we apply tomographic reconstruction
techniques to the analysis of Herbig-Haro jets. We use data of the HH30 jet
taken by Hartigan & Morse (2007) with the Hubble space telescope using the
slitless spectroscopy technique. Using a non-parametric Tikhonov regularization
technique, we determine the volumetric emission line intensities of the
[SII]6716,6731, [OI]6300 and [NII]6583 forbidden emission lines. From our
tomographic analysis of the corresponding line ratios, we produce
"three-dimensional" images of the physical parameters. The reconstructed
density, temperature and ionization fraction present much steeper profiles than
those inferred using the assumption of homogeneity. Our technique reveals that
the reconstructed jet is much more collimated than the observed one close to
the source (a width ~ 5 AU vs. ~ 20 AU at a distance of 10 AU from the star),
while they have similar widths at larger distances. In addition, our results
show a much more fragmented and irregular jet structure than the classical
analysis, suggesting that the the ejection history of the jet from the
star-disk system has a shorter timescale component (~ some months) superimposed
on a longer, previously observed timescale (of a few years). Finally, we
discuss the possible application of the same technique to other stellar jets
and planetary nebulae.
