Klein-Gordon acoustic theory

摘要

Geophysicists do not associate traveltime variation with density variation in acoustic or elastic wavefield interpretation. Rather, given a constant index of refraction, density variation within the medium of propagation is associated only with amplitudes. This point of view prevails because density does not occur as a variable in classical results such as Snell's Law or the eikonal equation. Nevertheless, in this paper I predict, analytically, a continuum of density effects on acoustic wavefields-including a dispersive traveltime delay when density variation is rapid. I also examine the ability of a common imaging algorithm to cope with this time delay.