Differential operators 3: The square-root derivative

John C. Bancroft

Differential operators are used in many seismic data processes such as triangle filters to reduce aliasing, finite difference solutions to the wave equation, and wavelet correction when modelling with diffractions or migrating with Kirchhoff algorithms. Short operators may be quite accurate when the data are restricted to low order polynomials, but may be inaccurate in other applications.

This is the third of three papers on differential operators and deals specifically with the square-root derivative or rho filter. The first paper deals with the first derivative and the second paper deals with the second derivative.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate visually the short operators that approximate a rho filter.