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 density, volume dielectric polarization
 * Dipolar polarization, orientation of permanent dipoles
 * Ionic polarization, displacement of ions in a crystal
 * Maxwell–Wagner–Sillars polarization, slow long-distance charge separation in dielectric spectroscopy on inhomogeneous soft matter
 * 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

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
 * 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