Degeneracy

Degeneracy may refer to:

Science

Biology and medicine

• Codon degeneracy
• Degeneracy (biology), the ability of elements that are structurally different to perform the same function or yield the same output
• Degeneration (medical)
  • Degenerative disease, a disease that causes deterioration over time

Mathematics

• Degeneracy (mathematics), a limiting case in which a class of object changes its nature so as to belong to another, usually simpler, class
• Degeneracy (graph theory), a measure of the sparseness of a graph
• Degenerate form, bilinear form ƒ(x,y) on a vector space V is one such that the map from to (the dual space of ) given by is not an isomorphism
• Degenerate distribution, the probability distribution of a random variable which only takes a single value
• Degenerate conic, a conic (a second-degree plane curve, the points of which satisfy an equation that is quadratic in one or the other or both variables) that fails to be an irreducible curve
• Degenerate dimension, a dimension key in the fact table that does not have its own dimension table, because all the interesting attributes have been placed in analytic dimensions. The term "degenerate dimension" was originated by Ralph Kimball

Quantum mechanics

• Degeneracy (quantum mechanics), a property of quantum states sharing the same energy levels
• Degenerate matter, a very highly compressed phase of matter which resists further compression because of quantum mechanical effects
• Degenerate energy levels, different arrangements of a physical system which have the same energy
• Degenerate semiconductor, a semiconductor with such a high doping-level that the material starts to act more like a metal than as a semiconductor

Other uses

• Degenerate art, a term adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany to describe virtually all modern art, declaring it "un-German" or Jewish Bolshevist in nature
• The Decadent art movement, often associated with degeneracy
• Degenerate (album), a 2010 album by the British band Trigger the Bloodshed
• "Degenerate", song from the Dude Ranch (album) from the American band Blink-182

See also

• Devolution (biology), the notion that a species can change into a more "primitive" form over time
• Deterioration (disambiguation)
• Regeneration (disambiguation) (antonym)