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is a kind of |
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has definition |
CPT invariance | symmetry breaking | symmetry | | | A theory has "CPT invariance" if for every possible reaction between subatomic particles, a reaction can also occur in which the electrical charges of the particles changed to their opposites, the mirror image of the particle trajectories is used, and the directions of motion are reversed. Assuming general notions of modern physics, all conceivable theories of nature are CPT invariant. |
elementary particle symmetry | symmetry breaking | unitary transformation | U | | Abstract mathematical relationships that relate elementary particles together and allow them to be grouped into families. A particular symmetry transformation has the effect of, in a theoretical way, transforming one elementary particle into another. |
gauge symmetry | symmetry breaking | symmetry | | | Symmetry principle underlying the quantum-mechanical description of the three nongravitational forces; the symmetry involves the invariance of a physical system under various shifts in the values of force charges, shifts that can change from place to place and from moment to moment. |
internal symmetry | symmetry breaking | symmetry | | | The properties of different elementary particles can be related to each other by mathematical transformations that look very much like the more familiar symmetry properties of our own physical space. Physicists have therefore hypothesized an abstract internal space in which these internal symmetries are defined. With the help of these internal symmetries, the elementary particles can be gathered into families. The relationship between space-time and these internal symmetries remains to be fully explained. |
isotropy | anisotropy | symmetry | | rotational invariance | A universe is said to be isotropic, from the point of view of a given observer, if it looks the same in all directions. The isotropy of the real universe is seen most strikingly in the cosmic background radiation, which has the same temperature in all directions to an accuracy of about one part in 100,000. See also homogeneous. |
parity | symmetry breaking | symmetry | | | The operation which reverses the signs of the coordinate axes used to describe a system, i.e. (x, y, z) -> (-x, -y, -z). |