Quantum Noise and the Threshold of Hearing
- 18 February 1985
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 54 (7) , 725-728
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.54.725
Abstract
We argue that the sensitivity of the ear reaches a limit imposed by the uncertainty principle. This is possible only if the receptor cell holds the detector elements in a special nonequilibrium state which has the same noise characteristics as a ground ( K) state. To accomplish this "active cooling" the molecular dynamics of the system must maintain quantum mechanical coherence over the time scale of the measurement.
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