Astronomy   View all facts   Glossary   Help
abstraction > mathematical concept > symmetry > internal symmetry
Next symmetryisotropy    Upsymmetry    Previous symmetrygauge symmetry   

internal symmetry comparison table
Subject is a kind of has definition
symmetrymathematical conceptThe property of being unchanged after some transformation. A square, for example, has a 4-sided rotational symmetry. It appears the same after it is rotated by 90 degrees.
internal symmetrysymmetryThe 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.

Next symmetryisotropy    Upsymmetry    Previous symmetrygauge symmetry