Power spectrum
Article
A power spectrum describes how the variance or power of a signal is distributed across frequency. It is commonly obtained from the squared magnitude of a Fourier transform or from the Fourier transform of an autocorrelation function.
Strong peaks indicate frequencies that contribute prominently to periodic or oscillatory behaviour. Broad backgrounds can represent noise, turbulence, stochastic variability, or unresolved processes.
For sampled data, the estimated power spectrum depends on record length, sampling rate, windowing, detrending, and averaging. These choices affect frequency resolution, spectral leakage, and statistical uncertainty.
Power spectra are used in acoustics, electronics, astronomy, seismology, climate science, communications, neuroscience, and vibration analysis. They help identify cycles, resonances, noise sources, and changes in signal structure.
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- Source / publisher: Wikipedia
- URL type: WWW
- Credits: Wikipedia
- URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_spectrum