submitted to Geophys. J. Int.

Numerical Aspects of Full-wave Fréchet Kernels

SUMMARY

Full-wave Fréchet kernels are computed using numerical solutions to the seismic wave
equation. Unlike kernels based on asymptotic ray theory, full-wave kernels can account
for full effects of 3D wave propagation and wave-field interactions. Several issues related
to the numerical implementation of full-wave Fréchet kernels are discussed based on the
Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method, which is recently adopted to solve the seismic
wave equation for its accuracy, robustness and flexibility. We also numerically verify that
full-wave kernels computed using the scattering-integral method are identical to those
computed using the adjoint method.

1 INTRODUCTION

2 NUMERICAL IMPLEMENTATION

The Born approximation involves the temporal convolution (i.e., scattering-integral) between the for-
ward wave-field from the seismic source to the scattering points with the Green’s tensor from the
scattering points to the receiver.
Z Z "
X
δusi (xr , t) =− dV (x) dτ Gij (xr , t − τ ; x)∂τ2 usj (x, τ )δρ(x)
j
#
X
+ ∂k Gij (xr , t − τ ; x)∂l usm (x, τ )δcjklm (x) . (1)
jklm

Here, s and r are indexes for seismic sources and receivers, xr is the location for receiver r, Gij (xr , t−
τ ; x) is the Green’s tensor that relates a unit impulsive force located at x and pointing to direction êj to
the displacement response at location xr in the direction êi , ∂k is the partial derivative with respect to
xk and ∂τ is the partial derivative with respect to τ . The forward wave-field us (x, t), and its spatial and
2

temporal derivatives, can be computed by solving the seismic wave equation using the actual seismic
source model, which can be expressed in terms of the stress glut or moment-tensor density.
By applying the reciprocity principle,

Gij (xr , t − τ ; x) = Gji (x, t − τ ; xr ), (2)

the Green’s tensor from the scattering points x to the receiver xr can be expressed in terms of the
Green’s tensor from the receiver xr to the scattering points x. Theoretically, the computation of the
Green’s tensor for the right-hand-side of (2) involves solving the seismic wave equation using spatial-
temporal Dirac functions located at the receiver location xr as the source. In practice, a finite-width
source-time function can be used for computing the Green’s tensors without loss of accuracy in the
kernels. Let’s consider a finite-width source-time function fr (t). We convolve this function on both
sides of (1), apply the reciprocity principle (2) and obtain
Z Z "
X
δ [usi ∗ fr ] (xr , t) = − dV (x) dτ [Gji ∗ fr ] (x, t − τ ; xr )∂τ2 usj (x, τ )δρ(x)
j
#
X
+ ∂k [Gji ∗ fr ] (x, t − τ ; xr )∂l usm (x, τ )δcjklm (x) , (3)
jklm

where [G ∗ fr ] (x, t; xr ) is the Green’s tensor computed using the finite-width source-time function
fr (t) located at the receiver location xr . Consider a data functional dsr
in that quantifies the misfit be-

tween the observed waveform ūsi (xr , t) and its corresponding synthetic waveform usi (xr , t),

dsr s s
in = Dn [ūi (xr , t), ui (xr , t)] . (4)

Suppose its seismogram perturbation kernel (i.e., the Fréchet kernel of the data functional with respect
sr (t), then we have
to the waveform) is Jin
Z
δdsr
in = sr
dt Jin (t)δusi (xr , t), (5)

sr (t) can be computed explicitly using the synthetic waveform us (x , t). We now convolve f (t)
and Jin i r r

onto both the observed and the synthetic waveforms and assume that our data functional satisfies

dsr s s s s
in = Dn [ūi (xr , t), ui (xr , t)] = Dn {[ūi ∗ fr ] (xr , t), [ui ∗ fr ] (xr , t)} , (6)

which is true for the Generalized Seismological Data Functionals (GSDF) or other types of data func-
tionals that are multiplicative in the frequency domain (more discussions here ...). We denote the
seismogram perturbation kernel of the data functional with respect to [usi ∗ fr ] (xr , t) as J˜in
sr (t), which

can be computed explicitly using [usi ∗ fr ] (xr , t) following the same procedure as we compute Jin
sr (t),
 Numerical Aspects of Full-wave Fréchet Kernels 3

we then obtain
Z
δdsr
in = dt J˜in
sr
(t)δ [usi ∗ fr ] (xr , t). (7)

Bring (3) into (7), we then obtain the exact Fréchet kernel for the data functional expressed in terms
of [G ∗ fr ] (x, t; xr ). This kernel should be identical to the one computed using (1) and (5) (??).

3 KERNEL EXAMPLES

4 DISCUSSION