THE MAXIMUM-ENTROPY METHOD AND FOURIER TRANSFORMATION COMPARED

The relationship between NMR spectra obtained by the maximum entropy method and by conventional processing (Fourier transformation) is explored. In certain circumstances, the maximum entropy reconstruction is simply a nonlinearly amplified form of the Fourier transform spectrum and is therefore essentially worthless. More complex and interesting behavior is found under conditions more likely to be met in practice. Using simple examples, it is argued that a maximum entropy reconstruction can reveal information that could not be obtained from a single Fourier transform spectrum. © 1991.