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Minimum Perceptible Energy and Brownian Motion in Sensory Processes

Abstract

FOR all sense-organs there exists a lower limit to the minimum perceptible energy, which is set by the Brownian motion in the sensory equipment itself. The minimum perceptible energy must be so large that only a small number of spontaneous excitations by thermal motion can occur. The quantitative relations have been estimated tentatively in certain cases.

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DE VRIES, H. Minimum Perceptible Energy and Brownian Motion in Sensory Processes. Nature 161, 63 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/161063b0

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