A New Pseudo-acoustic Wave Equation for VTI Media

We propose a new approximate partial differential equation for qP-waves in transverse isotropy with a vertical symmetry axis (VTI) media. We analyse its relationship to two other published "pseudo-acoustic" VTI equations. All three pseudo-acoustic VTI wave equations are coupled systems of second-order PDEs in time, derived from the same dispersion relation for qP waves by introducing different auxiliary functions. The new method combines efficient implementation and low artifacts. Modeling and reverse-time migration are shown to validate the wave equation.