Inverting Incomplete Fourier Transforms by a Sparse Regularization Model and Applications in Seismic Wavefield Modeling

Abstract: We propose a sparse regularization model for inversion of incomplete Fourier transforms and apply it to seismic wavefield modeling. The objective function of the proposed model employs the Moreau envelope of the $\ell_0$ norm under a tight framelet system as a regularization to promote sparsity. This model leads to a non-smooth, non-convex optimization problem for which traditional iteration schemes are inefficient or even divergent. By exploiting special structures of the $\ell_0$ norm, we identify a local minimizer of the proposed non-convex optimization problem with a global minimizer of a convex optimization problem, which provides us insights for the development of efficient and convergence guaranteed algorithms to solve it. We characterize the solution of the regularization model in terms of a fixed-point of a map defined by the proximity operator of the $\ell_0$ norm and develop a fixed-point iteration algorithm to solve it. By connecting the map with an $\alpha$-averaged nonexpansive operator, we prove that the sequence generated by the proposed fixed-point proximity algorithm converges to a local minimizer of the proposed model. Our numerical examples confirm that the proposed model outperforms significantly the existing model based on the $\ell_1$-norm. The seismic wavefield modeling in the frequency domain requires solving a series of the Helmholtz equation with large wave numbers, which is a computationally intensive task. Applying the proposed sparse regularization model to the seismic wavefield modeling requires data of only a few low frequencies, avoiding solving the Helmholtz equation with large wave numbers. Numerical results show that the proposed method performs better than the existing method based on the $\ell_1$ norm in terms of the SNR values and visual quality of the restored synthetic seismograms.