Does amplitude require spatial or temporal parameters?

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LucidDreamer
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Hello,

I am an intern in patent law working on a project outside of my technical expertise. Does amplitude or signal intensity require defining spatial or temporal parameters to measure the amplitude.

This is basically concerning a patent where we want to argue that a signal amplitude can be measured without explicitly defining some spatial or temporal aspect of it.

I'm guessing it does require defining where in time or space you want to measure an amplitude, but I'm wondering if there is any way of reasoning my way around this constraint as this is law and a theoretical view on the problem not trying to actually put it into practice
 
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LucidDreamer said:
Hello,

I am an intern in patent law working on a project outside of my technical expertise. Does amplitude or signal intensity require defining spatial or temporal parameters to measure the amplitude.

This is basically concerning a patent where we want to argue that a signal amplitude can be measured without explicitly defining some spatial or temporal aspect of it.

I'm guessing it does require defining where in time or space you want to measure an amplitude, but I'm wondering if there is any way of reasoning my way around this constraint as this is law and a theoretical view on the problem not trying to actually put it into practice

I'm not exactly sure of your question. Are you asking if there can ever been a measurement of some amplitude with a corresponding parameter that isn't either a spatial or temporal quantity? If this is what you're asking, then the answer is a definite yes.

An energy spectrum is a clear example, where the intensity is plotted as a function of energy. I can also show you an angle-resolved photoemission spectrum (ARPES).

https://www.psi.ch/specnovmat/ResearchEN/igp_017993cccd8eb419a6ed893c843d5456_test2.bmp
https://www.psi.ch/specnovmat/ResearchEN/igp_017993cccd8eb419a6ed893c843d5456_test2.bmp

Here, panel (c) shows intensity at various energy values, while panel (b) shows intensity at various momentum values.

Zz.
 
Thats exactly what I'm asking thanks.

From reading what an energy spectrum is, Its defined as the number of particles (intensity) vs. the energy of the particles. But isn't the number of particles a measure of concentrations (to make something up 10^100 particles per picometer^3) so since its a concentration it has a spatial component to it (picometer^3).

if I think of the particles as a wave and amplitude then it gets fuzzy, i have an organic chemistry background so always thinking in terms of particles not waves

please clarify if I"m not thinking of this the right way.
 
LucidDreamer said:
Thats exactly what I'm asking thanks.

From reading what an energy spectrum is, Its defined as the number of particles (intensity) vs. the energy of the particles. But isn't the number of particles a measure of concentrations (to make something up 10^100 particles per picometer^3) so since its a concentration it has a spatial component to it (picometer^3).

if I think of the particles as a wave and amplitude then it gets fuzzy, i have an organic chemistry background so always thinking in terms of particles not waves

please clarify if I"m not thinking of this the right way.

But this is why I'm asking you the original question and the scope of your premise. At the most FUNDAMENTAL level, all measurements that we make have to deal with the basic dimensions. That is inescapable since we live in such a world. Even a measurement of "energy" involves a spatial and temporal dimension implicit in the quantity. Just look at the fundamental units that make up the unit for energy (Joules).

If you are asking if there exists a graph or description of a measurement that is not explicitly a time or spatial dimension, then the answer is yes, just like before.

However, if you are asking if there are any measurement or quantity that does not involve either the implicit connection to spatial and temporal dimension, or if you a measurement does not involve a detection over a unit of space or time, then the answer is no.

Zz.