| 释义 |
degeneracy|dɪˈdʒɛnərəsɪ|
[f. degenerate a.: see -acy.]
1. a. The condition or quality of being degenerate.
1664H. More Myst. Iniq. 206 This grand Degeneracy of the Church. 1711Addison Spect. No. 65 ⁋9 It is Nature in its utmost Corruption and Degeneracy. 1862Goulburn Pers. Relig. 117 A degeneracy from the scriptural theory of Public Worship. 1883Froude Short Stud. IV. v. 336 The fall of a nobility may be a cause of degeneracy, or it may only be a symptom.
b. An instance of degeneracy; something that is degenerate. rare.
1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. 133 (R.) We incline..to account this form of atheism..to be but a certain degeneracy from the right Heraclitick and Zenonian cabala. 1862Alford in Life (1873) 345 The cathedral of Sens is a sad degeneracy from ours.
2. Physics.
a. A property of a quantized or an oscillatory system (see degenerate a. 3 a).
1928Shearer & Deans tr. Schrödinger's Coll. Papers Wave Mech. 70 Multiplicity of the proper values corresponds to degeneracy in the theory of conditioned periodic systems and is therefore especially interesting for quantum theory. 1935J. Dougall tr. Born's Atomic Physics v. 108 When the relativistic variability of mass is taken into consideration, the degeneracy of the hydrogen atom is certainly removed in part, but the motion is still simply degenerate. 1971Nature 23 Apr. 495/3 Interaction between the free oscillations [of the Earth] and the Earth's rotation removes degeneracy in the spherical harmonics of the same degree.
b. A property of a system of particles or ‘gas’ (see degenerate a. 3 b).
1928Proc. Physical Soc. XL. 327 An example of degeneracy is provided by the free electrons in a metal even at normal temperature. 1958J. B. Sykes tr. Ambartsumyan's Theoret. Astrophysics xxxii. 544 Owing to the high ionisation inside the stars [sc. white dwarfs], the gas retains the properties of an ideal gas..up to densities of about 102 or 103 g/cm3; at higher densities a degeneracy sets in, at first of the electron gas, and later (for densities greater than 105 or 106 g/cm3) of the heavy particles. |