 Thermal noise spectral convention

Model an ideal resistor of constant electrical resistance $R>0$ at uniform absolute temperature $T$ by its Thévenin equivalent: a zero-mean random voltage source in series with a noiseless $R$. In the classical range its one-sided, open-circuit voltage power spectral density, per hertz, iswhere $k_{\mathrm{B}}$ is the Boltzmann constant. Thus a positive-frequency interval of width $df$ contributes $4k_{\mathrm{B}}TRdf$ to the mean square voltage. This is approximately white noise only where the electrical resistance is effectively constant and $hf\ll k_{\mathrm{B}}T$, with $h$ the Planck constant. The ideal constant spectrum cannot describe arbitrarily high frequencies.^[ref]

For a real voltage, an equivalent two-sided power spectral density is $S_v^{(2)}(f)=2k_{\mathrm{B}}TR$ over signed frequencies. With a real linear time-invariant system of frequency response $H(f)$, the same output mean square isAngle brackets denote an expected value; for this zero-mean noise the mean square is its variance. Do not integrate $4k_{\mathrm{B}}TR$ over both signs of frequency: that counts the same fluctuations twice. All integrals here use frequency $f$ in hertz, not angular frequency $\omega =2\pi f$. The amplitude spectral density is $\sqrt{4k_{\mathrm{B}}TR}$ in $\mathrm{V}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, whereas the root mean square voltage requires a specified measurement signal bandwidth.