Time-frequency mean and variance sequences of orthonormal bases (Q818501)

For \(f\in L^2(\mathbb{R})\) such that \(\| f\| _2=1\), one defines the mean \(\mu(f)=\int_{\mathbb{R}} t| f(t)| ^2\, dt\) and variance \(\Delta^2(f)=\int | t-\mu(f)| ^2| f(t)| ^2\, dt\). In an unpublished manuscript from 1991, H. S. Shapiro proved that for an orthonormal basis \(\{\phi_n\}_{n=1}^\infty\) for \(L^2(\mathbb{R})\), the sequences \(\mu(\phi_n),\Delta(\phi_n)\), \(\mu(\widehat{\phi_n})\), \(\Delta(\widehat{\phi_n})\) cannot all be bounded. Here \(\widehat{\phi}\) denotes the Fourier transform, defined as \(\hat\phi(\xi) = \int f(t) e^{-2\pi i t\xi}\, dt\) for \(\phi\in L^1(\mathbb{R})\). For bases such as Gabor bases, Wilson bases or the Bourgain basis [\textit{J. Bourgain}, J. Funct. Anal. 79, No. 1, 136--143 (1988; Zbl 0656.46016)], the mean sequences of the \(\phi_n\) and \(\widehat{\phi_n}\) are both unbounded. For wavelet bases, both variance sequences are unbounded. For the Hermite basis of eigenfunctions of the Fourier transform, both variance sequences are bounded but the mean sequences are unbounded. This paper provides two interesting results in the theory of time-frequency localization. First, it is proved that there is no orthonormal basis \(\phi_n\) of \(L^2(\mathbb{R})\) such that \(\{\mu(\phi_n)\}\) is bounded as well as both variance sequences \(\{\Delta^2(\phi_n)\}\) and \(\{\Delta^2(\widehat{\phi_n})\}\). The argument is based on the fact that a joint bound on the means and variances of \(f\in L^2(\mathbb{R})\) implies that \(f\) belongs to a space of essentially time-and-bandlimited functions, an explicit bound on whose dimension was provided by \textit{H. J. Landau} and \textit{H. O. Pollak} [Bell System Tech. J. 40, 65--84 (1961; Zbl 0184.08602)]. A volume counting argument then gives the result. It is also proved here that there exists an orthonormal basis \(\phi_n\) for \(L^2(\mathbb{R})\) such that \(\{\mu(\phi_n)\}\) and \(\{\mu(\widehat{\phi_n})\}\) are all smaller than some given \(\varepsilon>0\), while \(\{\Delta^2(\phi_n)\}\) is also bounded. The construction is based on ideas of Bourgain (loc. cit.).