Quantum Noise and the Threshold of Hearing

William Bialek; Allan Schweitzer

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.54.725

Quantum Noise and the Threshold of Hearing

William Bialek and Allan Schweitzer

Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 725 – Published 18 February 1985; Erratum Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 996 (1986)

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 ( $T = 0$ 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.

Received 16 March 1984

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.54.725

Erratum

Erratum: Quantum noise and the threshold of hearing [Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 725 (1985)]

William Bialek and Allan Schweitzer

Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 996 (1986)

Authors & Affiliations

William Bialek^*,†

Department of Biophysics and Medical Physics, and Biology and Medicine Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, and Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106

Allan Schweitzer