Polarization

Polarization or polarisation may refer to:

Mathematics

  • Polarization of an Abelian variety, in the mathematics of complex manifolds
  • Polarization of an algebraic form, a technique for expressing a homogeneous polynomial in a simpler fashion by adjoining more variables
  • Polarization identity, expresses an inner product in terms of its associated norm
  • Polarization (Lie algebra)

Physical sciences

  • Polarization (physics), the ability of waves to oscillate in more than one direction; polarization of light allows the glare-reducing effect of polarized sunglasses
    • Polarization (antenna), the state of polarization (in the above sense) of electromagnetic waves transmitted by or received by a radio antenna
  • Dielectric polarization, charge separation in insulating materials:
  • Polarization (electrochemistry), a change in the equilibrium potential of an electrochemical reaction
  • Concentration polarization, the shift of the electrochemical potential difference across an electrochemical cell from its equilibrium value
  • Spin polarization, the degree by which the spin of elementary particles is aligned to a given direction
  • Polarizability, an electrical property of atoms or molecules and a separate magnetic property of subatomic particles
    • Polarization function, a feature of some molecular modelling methods
  • Photon polarization, the mathematical link between wave polarization and spin polarization
  • Vacuum polarization, a process in which a background electromagnetic field produces virtual electron-positron pairs
  • Polarization (cosmology), mechanisms for detecting astronomical polarization and the possible natural origins

Social sciences

  • Polarization (economics), faster decrease of moderate-skill jobs relative to low-skill and high-skill jobs
  • Political polarization, when public opinion divides and becomes oppositional
    • Bipolarisation, two sides of opposition
  • Social polarization, segregation of society into social groups, from high-income to low-income
  • Group polarization, tendency of a group to make more extreme decisions than individuals' initial inclinations
    • Attitude polarization, when disagreement becomes more extreme as different parties consider evidence
  • Racial polarization, when a population with varying ancestry is divided into distinct racial groups

Others

  • Polarization (album), an album by American jazz trombonist and composer Julian Priester
  • Polarization, in many disciplines, is a tendency to be located close to one of the opposite ends of a continuum

See also

  • Polar (disambiguation)
  • Polar opposite (disambiguation)
  • Polarity (disambiguation)
  • Pole (disambiguation)
  • Reversal (disambiguation)
  • Depolarization (disambiguation)