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Conversely, the inverse Fourier transform of a momentum space function is a position space function. These quantities and ideas transcend all of classical and quantum physics, and a physical system can be described using either the positions of the constituent particles, or their momenta, both formulations equivalently provide the same ...
This operator occurs in relativistic quantum field theory, such as the Dirac equation and other relativistic wave equations, since energy and momentum combine into the 4-momentum vector above, momentum and energy operators correspond to space and time derivatives, and they need to be first order partial derivatives for Lorentz covariance.
Mathematically, in wave mechanics, the uncertainty relation between position and momentum arises because the expressions of the wavefunction in the two corresponding orthonormal bases in Hilbert space are Fourier transforms of one another (i.e., position and momentum are conjugate variables).
The Fourier transform can also be generalized to functions of several variables on Euclidean space, sending a function of 3-dimensional 'position space' to a function of 3-dimensional momentum (or a function of space and time to a function of 4-momentum).
According to the correspondence principle, in certain limits the quantum equations of states must approach Hamilton's equations of motion.The latter state the following relation between the generalized coordinate q (e.g. position) and the generalized momentum p: {˙ = = {,}; ˙ = = {,}.
The Fourier–Plancherel transform defined by ^ = ¯ () extends to a C*-isomorphism from the group C*-algebra C*(G) of G and C 0 (G ^), i.e. the spectrum of C*(G) is precisely G ^. When G is the real line R , this is Stone's theorem characterizing one-parameter unitary groups.
The discrete version of the Fourier transform (see below) can be evaluated quickly on computers using fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithms. [8] In forensics, laboratory infrared spectrophotometers use Fourier transform analysis for measuring the wavelengths of light at which a material will absorb in the infrared spectrum.
The Fourier transform "diagonalizes" the momentum operator; that is, it converts it into the operator of multiplication by , where is the variable of the Fourier transform. The spectral theorem in general can be expressed similarly as the possibility of "diagonalizing" an operator by showing it is unitarily equivalent to a multiplication operator.