Spherical Abel deprojection ($\rho (r)=-{\pi }^{-1}{\int }_r^{\infty }{\Sigma }^{\prime }(R)(R^2-r^2{)}^{-1/2}dR$)

Put $F(u)=\Sigma (\sqrt{u})$ and $g(v)=\rho (\sqrt{v})$. Then $F(u)={\int }_u^{\infty }g(v)/\sqrt{v-u}dv$. Composing this Abel transform with itself and exchanging convergent integrals gives ${\int }_t^{\infty }F(u)/\sqrt{u-t}du=\pi {\int }_t^{\infty }g(v)dv$, because the inner integral from $t$ to $v$ is $\pi$. Differentiate after writing $u=t+s$ to obtain $g(t)=-{\pi }^{-1}{\int }_t^{\infty }{F}^{\prime }(u)/\sqrt{u-t}du$. Substituting $t=r^2,u=R^2$ yields the displayed reconstruction. Decay and regularity sufficient for the exchanges and derivatives are required.

For $A,b>0$ and $\alpha >1/2$, the projected profile $F(R)=A(R^2+b^2{)}^{-\alpha }$ has the displayed spherical Abel transform inverse. Indeed its composed transform is $A(r^2+b^2{)}^{1/2-\alpha }{I}_{\alpha }$, with $I_{\alpha }={\int }_1^{\infty }{s}^{-\alpha }(s-1{)}^{-1/2}ds=B(1/2,\alpha -1/2)$. Differentiate in $r$, divide by $-2\pi r$, and use the Gamma function recurrence to obtain the coefficient. The same kernel reconstructs tracer number density or isotropic random pressure from their respective projected profiles.

For a spherical, nonstreaming stellar population with isotropic velocity dispersion, each component of the random pressure tensor equals $p=n⟨v_r^2⟩$. The observed second stellar velocity moment satisfies $N(R){\sigma }_{\mathrm{los}}^2(R)=2{\int }_R^{\infty }p(r)r/\sqrt{r^2-R^2}dr$. Composing this Abel transform with itself gives the displayed inverse under sufficient decay and regularity. The Spherical Jeans equation then gives ${\psi }^{\prime }=p^{\prime }/n$, with gravitational acceleration $\nabla \psi$. The Poisson equation for Newtonian gravity recovers total gravitating mass density, not just the tracer density. Without velocity isotropy the same projected moment also contains anisotropic stresses.