14 Physics and Fourier transforms

Its Fourier transform is g( p), given by:

 ∞
e−x /a e2πi px d x
2 2
g( p) =
−∞

The exponent can be rewritten (by ‘completing the square’) as

−(x/a − πi pa)2 − π 2 p 2 a 2
and then
 ∞
g( p) = e−π e−(x/a−πi pa) d x
2
p2 a 2 2

−∞

put x/a − πi pa = z, so that d x = adz. Then:

 ∞
−π 2 p 2 a 2
e−z dz
2
g( p) = ae
−∞
√
= a πe−π a p
2 2 2

so that g( p) is another Gaussian function, with width parameter 1/πa.

Notice that, the wider the original Gaussian, the narrower will be its Fourier
pair.
Notice too, that the value at p = 0 of the Fourier pair is equal to the area
under the original Gaussian.

1.7.4 The exponential decay

This, in physics is generally the positive part of the function e−x/a . It is asym-
metric, so its Fourier transform is complex:
 ∞
Φ( p) = e−x/a e2πi px d x
0
 ∞
e2πi px−x/a −1
= =
2πi p − 1/a 0 2πi p − 1/a
Usually, with this function, the power spectrum is the most interesting:
a2
| Φ( p) |2 =
4π 2 p 2 a 2 + 1
This is a bell-shaped curve, similar in appearance to a Gaussian curve, and is
known as a Lorentz profile. It has a FWHM = 1/πa.
It is the shape found in spectrum lines when they are observed at very low pres-
sure, when collisions between emitting particles are infrequent compared with
the transition probability. If the line profile is taken as a function of frequency,

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