Gamma

The lowercase letter ${\displaystyle \gamma }$ is used as a symbol for:

• Chromatic number of in graph theory
• Gamma radiation in nuclear physics
• The photon, the elementary particle of light and other electromagnetic radiation
• The 434 nm spectral line in the Balmer series
• Surface energy in materials science
• The Lorentz factor in the theory of relativity
• In mathematics, the lower incomplete gamma function
• The Euler–Mascheroni constant ≈ 0.57721566490153286
• The heat capacity ratio C_p  /C_v in thermodynamics
• The activity coefficient in thermodynamics
• The gyromagnetic ratio in electromagnetism
• Gamma waves in neuroscience
• Gamma motor neurons in neuroscience
• A non-SI metric unit of measure of mass equal to one microgram (1 μg).[7][8] This always-rare use is deprecated.
• A non-SI unit of measure of magnetic flux density, sometimes used in geophysics, equal to 10⁻⁵ Gauss (G), or 1 nanotesla (nT).[9]
• The power by which the luminance of an image is increased in gamma correction
• In civil and mechanical engineering:
  • Specific weight
  • The shear rate of a fluid is represented by a lowercase gamma with a dot above it: ${\displaystyle {\dot {\gamma }}}$
  • Austenite (also known as γ-iron), a metallic non-magnetic allotrope or solid solution of iron.
• The gamma carbon, the third carbon attached to a functional group in organic chemistry and biochemistry; see Alpha and beta carbon

The lowercase Latin gamma ɣ can also be used in contexts (such as chemical or molecule nomenclature) where gamma must not be confused with the letter y, which can occur in some computer typefaces.

The uppercase letter ${\displaystyle \Gamma }$ is used as a symbol for:

• In mathematics, the gamma function (usually written as ${\displaystyle \Gamma }$-function) is an extension of the factorial to complex numbers
• In mathematics, the upper incomplete gamma function
• The Christoffel symbols in differential geometry
• In probability theory and statistics, the gamma distribution is a two-parameter family of continuous probability distributions.
• In solid-state physics, the center of the Brillouin zone
• Circulation in fluid mechanics
• As reflection coefficient in physics and electrical engineering
• The tape alphabet of a Turing machine
• The Feferman–Schütte ordinal ${\displaystyle \Gamma _{0}}$
• One of the Greeks in mathematical finance

The name Gamma has been used twice for tropical cyclones:

Tropical Storm Gamma (2005) - deadly tropical storm that impacted Honduras

Hurricane Gamma (2020) - hurricane that affected the Yucatán Peninsula

The HTML entities for uppercase and lowercase gamma are Γ and γ.

• Greek Gamma

• Coptic Gamma

• Latin Gamma / phonetic Gamma

• CJK Square Gamma

• Technical / Mathematical Gamma

These characters are used only as mathematical symbols. Stylized Greek text should be encoded using the normal Greek letters, with markup and formatting to indicate text style.