symmetry breaking | has antonym symmetry | ![2001-09-27 09:32:33.0 2001-09-27 09:32:33.0](facet.gif) |
has synonym asymmetry | ![has source: Ferris, T. 1988 Coming of Age in the Milky Way, Morrow, 2001-09-27 09:32:33.0 has source: Ferris, T. 1988 Coming of Age in the Milky Way, Morrow, 2001-09-27 09:32:33.0](facet.gif) |
has definition A violation of symmetry. | ![has source: Ferris, T. 1988 Coming of Age in the Milky Way, Morrow, 2001-09-27 09:32:33.0 has source: Ferris, T. 1988 Coming of Age in the Milky Way, Morrow, 2001-09-27 09:32:33.0](facet.gif) |
has definition A reduction in the amount of symmetry a system appears to have, usually associated with a phase transition. | ![has source: Greene, B. 1999 The Elegant Universe, W.W. Norton and Co., New York, 2001-09-27 09:32:33.0 has source: Greene, B. 1999 The Elegant Universe, W.W. Norton and Co., New York, 2001-09-27 09:32:33.0](facet.gif) |
has definition A set of mathematical transformations that represent a symmetry. | ![has source: Lightman, A., Brawer, R. 1990 The Lives and Worlds of Modern Cosmologists, Harvard University Press, 2001-09-27 09:32:33.0 has source: Lightman, A., Brawer, R. 1990 The Lives and Worlds of Modern Cosmologists, Harvard University Press, 2001-09-27 09:32:33.0](facet.gif) |
has definition The process by which an intrinsic symmetry of a system is disrupted. For example, a compass, in the absence of any outside magnetic field, has rotational symmetry and is equally likely to point in any direction. The magnetic field of the earth breaks the symmetry and causes the compass to point in a particular direction, toward the earth's north magnetic pole. In some cosmological models, the infant universe was much more symmetric than it is today. As the universe aged and cooled, some of these symmetries were permanently broken. | ![has source: Lightman, A., Brawer, R. 1990 The Lives and Worlds of Modern Cosmologists, Harvard University Press, 2001-09-27 09:32:33.0 has source: Lightman, A., Brawer, R. 1990 The Lives and Worlds of Modern Cosmologists, Harvard University Press, 2001-09-27 09:32:33.0](facet.gif) |
has definition In cosmology and particle physics, a state in which traces of an earlier symmetry may be discerned. A broken symmetry condition differs from chaos in that its parts can in theory be united in a symmetrical whole, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. | ![has source: Ferris, T. 1988 Coming of Age in the Milky Way, Morrow], 2001-09-27 09:32:33.0 has source: Ferris, T. 1988 Coming of Age in the Milky Way, Morrow], 2001-09-27 09:32:33.0](facet.gif) |
is a kind of mathematical concept | ![2001-09-27 09:32:33.0 2001-09-27 09:32:33.0](facet.gif) |