Review of ray-Born forward modeling for migration and diffraction analysis

The ray-Born approximation is a very useful tool for forward modeling of scattered waves. The fact that ray-Born modeling underlies most seismic migration techniques, and therefore shares their assumptions, is a justification in itself to consider it for forward modeling. The ray-Born approximation does not make an explicit distinction between specular reflections and nonspecular diffractions. It therefore allows the modeling of diffractions from structural discontinuities such as edges and tips, as well as caustic diffractions. In the simplest implementation ray-Born seismograms are multiple-free. Ray-Born modeling can be orders of magnitude faster than finite-difference modeling, both in two-and three dimensions.