Frequency estimation 2026-10-18
Frequency estimation infers a periodic signal's frequency from observed samples. It may use a peak of the discrete Fourier transform, or fit a sinusoidal model with amplitude, phase, and frequency as unknown parameters. Its attainable precision depends on noise, observation duration, sampling rate, and the estimator. Fourier frequency resolution alone does not specify that precision.
Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge 2017 Paper 1 Section D D12 Solution 2026-10-18
Ideal spectrum. Write , with . The overdamped harmonic-trap power spectrum is a Lorentzian line shape:Thus its log-log plot is horizontal at low frequency and approaches slope at high frequency, changing around . The left panel below compares two characteristic frequencies with the same illustrative ; a common numerator is explicitly assumed for this sketch. Their high-frequency tails coincide and their low-frequency plateaux differ as .
Ideal Lorentzian spectra at two corner frequencies and the measured spectrum with its graphical corner estimate
. Details. The right panel plots all nine original data points, including the very-low-frequency excess and the highest-frequency suppression. It also shows the ideal curve inferred only from the requested intermediate range.
Graphical corner estimate. Between roughly and the measured power spectral density is approximately the plateau . At and ,so the descending asymptote is with . The graphical corner frequency of a Lorentzian spectrum is where these asymptotes intersect:Independently, the measured value is exactly the half-plateau condition . Both graphical readings agree. The inferred ideal curve is approximately
Low-frequency excess and recording duration. The two lowest-frequency measurements increase approximately as , whereas the ideal trapped oscillator tends to a constant plateau. This resembles flicker noise or slow apparatus drift superposed on the motion. The transimpedance amplifier, detector or environment could contribute; the spectrum alone does not identify the source uniquely. It would be incorrect to attribute that whole excess to the ideal Brownian oscillator.
A finite record of duration has ordinary Fourier frequency resolution of order . Resolving the lowest tabulated frequency therefore requires at leastThis is a formal lower bound corresponding to about one cycle; a reliable noise-spectrum estimate normally needs a substantially longer record and averaging.
Sampling. The largest reported frequency is . The Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem therefore gives the Nyquist lower boundIn practice choose a rate above , with an analogue anti-aliasing filter suppressing unmeasured content above half the sampling rate. Exact equality cannot recover an arbitrary pure sinusoid precisely at the boundary for every phase; it is the limiting lower-bound answer rather than a comfortable practical sampling design.
High-frequency departure and amplifier design. Extrapolating the fitted tail to predicts approximately , while the measured value is . The observed drop from to has effective logarithmic slope , much steeper than the ideal .
A detector or amplifier bandwidth limit, or intentional filtering before digitization, can explain such suppression. For a linear filter the spectral density transformation under a linear filter is , so the last point corresponds approximately to an additional relative voltage gain , if attributed entirely to the readout transfer function. One additional point does not determine a unique filter order or identify the circuit responsible.
Rolling off an amplifier's gain beyond the useful signal band reduces integrated high-frequency noise, suppresses interference, and helps prevent aliasing in the analogue-to-digital converter. Limiting high-frequency loop gain can also improve feedback stability and suppress unwanted oscillation. The cutoff must retain the frequencies needed for the measurement; excessive filtering would distort the desired fluctuation spectrum itself.
Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge 2022 Paper 1 Section A 5 Solution 2026-10-18
For the fundamental alone, the Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem places the limiting sampling rate at twice that frequency:Use a rate strictly above this boundary for a sinusoid of unknown phase: exactly two samples per cycle can, for a particular phase, all fall at zero. If higher Fourier harmonics are retained, the sampling rate must instead exceed twice the highest retained frequency, or those components must be removed to prevent aliasing.
For a straightforward discrete Fourier transform estimate, Fourier frequency resolution obeys . Resolving therefore suggestsAt the limiting sampling rate this is about samples. These are the usual sampling and spectral-resolution estimates. The value is not a universal lower bound on single-tone frequency estimation: fitting a sinusoidal model with sufficiently low noise can estimate its frequency more precisely than the spacing of discrete Fourier transform bins. The question gives no noise level or estimator, so a sharper universal minimum time cannot be deduced.
