Validation of helioseismology through forward modeling: Realization noise subtraction and kernels

Through a series of numerical simulations of the near-surface acoustic wavefield of the Sun, we show the utility of the forward approach in local helioseismology. We demonstrate and apply a method to subtract a large fraction of the realization noise from the simulated data. The ability to attain high signal-to-noise ratios from brief forward calculations implies that computational resources are less of a bottleneck, making this alternate method for investigations of the solar interior very feasible. We put this method to use by deriving sensitivity kernels for sound-speed perturbations and source suppression for the background state in our computations using techniques of time-distance helioseismology, all from merely 48 hr of artificial data.