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abstraction > mathematical concept > symmetry breaking > anisotropy

anisotropy comparison table

Subject	break	is a kind of	has definition
symmetry breaking		mathematical concept	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.
anisotropy	isotropy	symmetry breaking	The characteristic of being dependent upon direction. (Light coming with equal intensity from all directions is isotropic; a spotlight's beam is anisotropic.) The cosmic background radiation is generally isotropic - i.e., its intensity is the same in all parts of the sky - but small anisotropies have been detected which are thought to reflect the earth's proper motion relative to the framework of the universe as a whole.

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