Uncertainty principles for orthonormal sequences (Q880080)

The authors state that in an as yet unpublished manuscript titled ``Uncertainty principles for bases in \(L^2(\mathbb R)\)'', \textit{H. S. Shapiro} proved that if the elements of an orthonormal sequence and their Fourier transforms are all pointwise bounded by a fixed function in \(L^2(\mathbb R)\) then the sequence is finite, and also that if the elements of an orthonormal sequence and their Fourier transforms have uniformly bounded means and dispersions then the sequence is finite. The paper under review gives quantitative bounds on the size of the finite orthonormal sequences in Shapiro's theorems. The bounds are obtained by using prolate spheroidal functions and combinatorial estimates on the number of elements in a spherical code. Extensions for Riesz bases and different measures of time--frequency concentration are also given.