Image reconstruction in quantitative photoacoustic tomography with the simplified $P_2$ approximation

Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) is a hybrid imaging modality that intends to construct high-resolution images of optical properties of heterogeneous media from measured acoustic data generated by the photoacoustic effect. To date, most of the model-based quantitative image reconstructions in PAT are performed with either the radiative transport equation or its classical diffusion approximation as the model of light propagation. In this work, we study quantitative image reconstructions in PAT using the simplified $P_2$ equations as the light propagation model. We provide numerical evidences on the feasibility of this approach and derive some stability results as theoretical justifications.