Creating a virtual source inside a medium from reflection data: heuristic derivation and stationary-phase analysis

With seismic interferometry a virtual source can be created inside a medium, assuming a receiver is present at the position of the virtual source. Here we discuss a method that creates a virtual source inside a medium from reflection data, without needing a receiver inside the medium. Apart from the reflection data, an estimate of the direct arrivals is required. However, no explicit information about the scatterers in the medium is needed. We analyse the proposed method for a simple configuration with the method of stationary phase. We show that the retrieved virtual-source response correctly contains the multiple scattering coda of the inhomogeneous medium. The proposed method can serve as a basis for data-driven suppression of internal multiples in seismic imaging.