Generalized uncertainty principles

TL;DR

This paper introduces the concept of Generalized Uncertainty Principles, extending classical uncertainty principles by relating weighted time and frequency spreads through a new inequality involving scaling parameters and a three-dimensional set called the "possibility body."

Contribution

It generalizes classical uncertainty principles by formulating a new inequality involving weighted spreads and scales, and introduces the "possibility body" as a unifying framework.

Findings

Derived new quantitative uncertainty principles for specific weights.

Showed classical principles are lower bounds within the possibility body.

Established properties of the possibility body and its relation to classical principles.

Abstract

The phenomenon in the essence of classical uncertainty principles is well known since the thirties of the last century. We introduce a new phenomenon which is in the essence of a new notion that we introduce: "Generalized Uncertainty Principles". We show the relation between classical uncertainty principles and generalized uncertainty principles. We generalized "Landau-Pollak-Slepian" uncertainty principle. Our generalization relates the following two quantities and two scaling parameters: 1) The weighted time spreading $\int_{-\infty}^\infty |f(x)|^2w_1(x)dx$, ($w_1(x)$ is a non-negative function). 2) The weighted frequency spreading $\int_{-\infty}^\infty |\hat{f}(\omega)|^2w_2(\omega)d\omega$. 3) The time weight scale $a$, ${w_1}_a(x)=w_1(xa^{-1})$ and 4) The frequency weight scale $b$, ${w_2}_b(\omega)=w_2(\omega b^{-1})$. "Generalized Uncertainty Principle" is an inequality that summarizes the constraints on the relations between the two spreading quantities and two scaling parameters. For any two reasonable weights $w_1(x)$ and $w_2(\omega)$, we introduced a three dimensional set in $R^3$ that is in the essence of many uncertainty principles. The set is called "possibility body". We showed that classical uncertainty principles (such as the Heiseneberg-Pauli-Weyl uncertainty principle) stem from lower bounds for different functions defined on the possibility body. We investigated qualitative properties of general uncertainty principles and possibility bodies. Using this approach we derived new (quantitative) uncertainty principles for Landau-Pollak-Slepian weights. We found the general uncertainty principles related to homogeneous weights, $w_1(x)=w_2(x)=x^k$, $k\in N$, up to a constant.