Timing uncertainties

A light pulse of a center frequency Q impinges on an interface. Raman-active modes of nuclear motion are coherently excited via impulsive stimulated Raman scattering, when the time width of the pulse is shorter than the period of the vibration. The ultrashort light pulse has a finite frequency width related to the Fourier transformation of the time width, according to the energy-time uncertainty relation. 

We now wish to derive the energy-time uncertainty principle, which is discussed in Section 1.5 and expressed in equation (1.45). We show in Section 1.5 that for a wave packet associated with a free particle moving in the x-direction the product A A/ is equal to the product AxApx if AE and At are defined appropriately. However, this derivation does not apply to a particle in a potential field. 

To obtain the energy-time uncertainty principle for a particle in a time-independent potential field, we setyf equal to H in equation (3.81)... 

Scission reactions were carried out with nominal 4, 8 and 12 mole %DVB where f = 0.04, 0.08 and 0.12, respectively. The corresponding times required to reach degelation were estimated as 4, 7.5 and 10 hours. The time uncertainty of the degelation "point" is estimated as 0.2 to 0.5 hr. 

As an example, consider a CD-audio signal with 16 bits of resolution with a sampling frequency of 44.1 MHz. The time uncertainty (A to) will be 110 picoseconds ... 

The probability builds up exponentially in time to t = (ro -I- r)/vo, after which it decays exponentially. The decay-time constant is t = h/3. For the Lorentzian wave-packet shape (4.158) the uncertainty principle is an exact relationship if the energy uncertainty is the full width at half maximum 3 and the time uncertainty is the decay time t. 

Thermodynamics, quantization, energy-time uncertainty principle, negative Kelvin... 

The energy-time uncertainty principle a purely dynamic (not thermodynamic) Third-Law limitation under quantum mechanics... 

We re-emphasize (recall Sect. 3.2, especially the second-to-last paragraph thereof) that the attainment of absolute zero requires perfect certainty that our entire new n-oscillator Subsystem B is in its ground state — that all n oscillators of Subsystem B are in the ground state. But the energy-time uncertainty principle may contravene [29-41]. 

Dr. Bernard L. Cohen [29] employs the energy-time uncertainty principle in discussing quantum fluctuations. Dr. Robert Comer [30] (cited by Dr. Cohen [29]) shows how the position-momentum uncertainty principle can be employed in more limited circumstances. 

Note the qualitative — not merely quantitative — distinction between the thermodynamic (Boltzmann-distribution) probability discussed in Sect. 3.2. as opposed to the purely dynamic (quantum-mechanical) probability Pg discussed in this Sect. 3.3. Even if thermodynamically, exact attainment of 0 K and perfect verification [22] that precisely 0 K has been attained could be achieved for Subsystem B, the pure dynamics of quantum mechanics, specifically the energy-time uncertainty principle, seems to impose the requirement that infinite time must elapse first. [This distinction between thermodynamic probabilities as opposed to purely dynamic (quantum-mechanical) probabilities should not be confused with the distinction between the derivation of the thermodynamic Boltzmann distribution per se in classical as opposed to quantum statistical mechanics. The latter distinction, which we do not consider in this chapter, obtains largely owing to the postulate of random phases being required in quantum but not classical statistical mechanics [42,43].]... 

In summary, the thermodynamic difficulties in attaining precisely 0 K via TSRR [2-5] seem to be circumventable via CSRR. By contrast, the purely dynamic (quantum-mechanical) limitation imposed by the energy-time uncertainty principle as per Sects. 3.3. and 3.4. is, strictly, not circumventable via either TSRR or CSRR, but this limitation may not be crucial if we do... 

But the issue of maintenance [23] seems inseparable from that of verifiability [22]. For, as discussed in Sects. 3.3. and 3.4, the energy-time uncertainty principle requires Af —> oo for perfect verifiability that Tq OK has been attained, which is obviously incompatible with Tq = OK being maintained only for an instant, or even for any finite number of instants, in accordance with Eqs. (6) and (7) and the associated discussions. If Tq = 0 K can be maintained only for an instant, (or any finite number of instants), then the energy-time uncertainty principle seems to preclude verification even for all practical purposes that Tq 0 K... 

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