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

• Polarization (cosmology), mechanisms for detecting astronomical polarization and the possible natural origins

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

• Bipolarisation, two sides of opposition

• 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

See also

• Polar (disambiguation)

• Polar opposite (disambiguation)

• Polarity (disambiguation)

• Pole (disambiguation)

• Reversal (disambiguation)

• Depolarization (disambiguation)