# Physics-informed waveform inversion using pretrained wavefield neural operators

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.08967 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.08967/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 15 of its 55 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 10 Sep 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 15 of 15)

- [Gaussian Error Linear Units (GELUs)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.08415/) (2016)
- [Fourier Neural Operator for Parametric Partial Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.08895/) (2020)
- [Automatic differentiation in machine learning: a survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1502.05767/) (2015)
- [FlexiViT: One Model for All Patch Sizes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.08013/) (2022)
- [InversionNet: A Real-Time and Accurate Full Waveform Inversion with CNNs and continuous CRFs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.07875/) (2018)
- [Deep-learning inversion: a next generation seismic velocity-model building method](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.06267/) (2019)
- [OpenFWI: Large-Scale Multi-Structural Benchmark Datasets for Seismic Full Waveform Inversion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.02926/) (2021)
- [Deep-Learning Inversion of Seismic Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.07733/) (2019)
- [A prior regularized full waveform inversion using generative diffusion models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.12776/) (2023)
- [Efficient physics-informed neural networks using hash encoding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.13397/) (2023)
- [PINNup: Robust neural network wavefield solutions using frequency upscaling and neuron splitting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.14536/) (2021)
- [Solving Seismic Wave Equations on Variable Velocity Models with Fourier Neural Operator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.12340/) (2022)
- [Fourier Neural Operator Surrogate Model to Predict 3D Seismic Waves Propagation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.10242/) (2023)
- [A penalty method for PDE-constrained optimization in inverse problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1504.02249/) (2015)
- [Sparse-promoting Full Waveform Inversion based on Online Orthonormal Dictionary Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1511.05194/) (2015)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [The Seismic Wavefield Common Task Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.19927/) (2025)
- [RED-DiffEq: Regularization by denoising diffusion models for solving inverse PDE problems with application to full waveform inversion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.21659/) (2025)
- [Decoupled Latent Optimization of Diffusion Models for Full Waveform Inversion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.14139/) (2026)
- [Diffusion priors enhanced velocity model building from time-lag images using a neural operator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.23375/) (2025)
- [Physical-State-Guided Diffusion Sampling for Full-Waveform Inversion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.12899/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Full waveform inversion (FWI) is crucial for reconstructing high-resolution subsurface models, but it is often hindered, considering the limited data, by its null space resulting in low-resolution models, and more importantly, by its computational cost, especially if needed for real-time applications. Recent attempts to accelerate FWI using learned wavefield neural operators have shown promise in efficiency and differentiability, but typically suffer from noisy and unstable inversion performance. To address these limitations, we introduce a novel physics-informed FWI framework to enhance the inversion in accuracy while maintaining the efficiency of neural operator-based FWI. Instead of relying only on the L2 norm objective function via automatic differentiation, resulting in noisy model reconstruction, we integrate a physics constraint term in the loss function of FWI, improving the quality of the inverted velocity models. Specifically, starting with an initial model to simulate wavefields and then evaluating the loss over how much the resulting wavefield obeys the physical laws (wave equation) and matches the recorded data, we achieve a reduction in noise and artifacts. Numerical experiments using the OpenFWI and Overthrust models demonstrate our method's superior performance, offering cleaner and more accurate subsurface velocity than vanilla approaches. Considering the efficiency of the approach compared to FWI, this advancement represents a significant step forward in the practical application of FWI for real-time subsurface monitoring.