What is "gamma"

gamma \gam"ma\ (g[a^]m"m[.a]), n. The third letter ([Gamma], [gamma] = Eng. G) of the Greek alphabet.

third letter of the Greek alphabet, c.1400, from Greek gamma, from Phoenician gimel, said to mean literally "camel" (see camel) and to be so called for a fancied resemblance of its shape to some part of a camel. Gamma rays (1903) originally were thought to be a third type of radiation, but later were found to be very short X-rays.

n. 1 The name of the third letter of the Greek alphabet ('''Γ''', '''γ'''), preceded by beta ('''Β''', '''β''') and followed by delta, ('''Δ''', '''δ'''). 2 (context mathematics English) The (w: Gamma function), symbolized by Γ. 3 (context mathematics English) A constant approximately equal to 0.55721566, symbolized by γ. 4 (context physics English) A unit of magnetic field equal to 1 nT.

1. n. the 3rd letter of the Greek alphabet

2. a unit of magnetic field strength equal to one-hundred-thousandth of an oersted

3. Portuguese navigator who led an expedition around the Cape of Good Hope in 1497; he sighted and named Natal on Christmas Day before crossing the Indian Ocean (1469-1524) [syn: da Gamma, Vasco da Gamma]

1. Redirect Greeks (finance)#Gamma

Gamma was a band formed by guitarist Ronnie Montrose and singer Davey Pattison in San Francisco in 1979. They released four albums: Gamma 1 (1979), Gamma 2 (1980), Gamma 3 (1982) (all on Elektra Records) and Gamma 4 (2000). Some of their best known songs are probably "Fight to the Finish" from their first album, and "Meanstreak" and "Voyager" from the second album.

Gamma is the third letter of the Greek alphabet.

Gamma may also refer to:

is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name . He is currently working for the Dragon Gate promotion.

Gamma is a small neotropical, primarily northern andean genus of potter wasps currently containing 6 recognized species.

Gamma was a Soviet gamma ray telescope. It was launched on 11 July 1990 into an orbit around Earth with a height of 375 km and an inclination of 51.6 degrees. It lasted for around 2 years. On board the mission were three telescopes, all of which could be pointed at the same source. The project was a joint Soviet- French project.

Gamma is a Dutch Hardware store-chain. It started in May 11, 1978 in Breda. The headquarters of the franchise-organisation Intergamma is located in Leusden and as of 2011 it has 245 stores, of which 164 are located in the Netherlands and 81 in Belgium. Intergamma also owns the Hardware store-chain Karwei.

GAMMA experiment is a study of: a) Primary cosmic ray energy spectra and elemental composition ( abundances of the elements) at energies 10–10 eV (so called knee energy region) b) Galactic diffuse gamma-ray intensity at energies 10–10eV, c) Extensive Air Showers (EAS) at the mountain level by the ground-based EAS array and underground muon scintillation counters, d) Hard jets production at energies ~10eV by the muon multi-core shower events.

GAMMA experiment is deployed on the South side of Mount Aragats in Armenia ( Cosmic-ray observatory). The facility consists of a ground-based extensive air shower (EAS) array of 33 surface detection stations and 150 underground muon detectors. The elevation of the GAMMA facility is 3200 m above sea level, which corresponds to about 700 g/cm of atmospheric depth. The surface stations of the EAS array are arranged in 5 concentric circles of 20, 28, 50, 70, and 100 m radii, and each station contains 3 plastic scintillation detectors with the dimensions of 1 m × 1 m × 0.05 m. 9 central detector stations contain an additional small scintillator with dimensions 0.3 m × 0.3 m × 0.05 m for high particle density (much greater than 100 particles/m) measurements. A photomultiplier tube is placed on the top of the aluminum casing covering each scintillator. One of three detectors of each station is viewed by two photomultipliers, one of which is designed for fast timing measurements. 150 underground muon detectors are compactly arranged in the underground hall under 2.3 kg/cm of concrete and rock providing the detection of shower muons with energy greater than 5 GeV.

The results of GAMMA experiment for 2004–2010 runs are presented in references below .

Gamma is a French photo agency, founded in 1966 by Raymond Depardon, Hubert Henrotte, Hugues Vassal and Léonard de Raemy. Gilles Caron joined the agency shortly after its foundation. Gamma became a prestigious photojournalism agency: photographers who have worked at Gamma include William Karel, Georges Merillon, Chas Gerretsen, Catherine Leroy, Françoise Demulder and Emanuele Scorcelletti.

In 1999, the agency was bought by Hachette Filipacchi photo group (GHFP), a division of Hachette Filipacchi Médias. Their name changed to the Eyedea group in March 2007, amidst reports that the agency was in financial distress. It was sold again in 2007 to Green Recovery, an investment fund that buys distressed companies. On 28 July 2009, the parent company sought protection from creditors after making a loss of €3 million euro. In April 2010, the commercial court in Paris ruled that François Lochon, former general director of Gamma Agency, would buy the Eyedea group for 100,000 euro.

Gamma (denoted as γ) of an eclipse describes how centrally the shadow of the Moon or Earth strikes the other. The distance, when the axis of the shadow cone passes closest to Earth or Moon's center, is stated as a fraction of the equatorial radius of the Earth. The sign of gamma defines, for a solar eclipse, if the axis of the shadow passes north or south of the center of the Earth; a positive value means north. For a lunar eclipse it defines whether the axis of the Earth's shadow passes north or south of the Moon; a positive value means south. For solar eclipses the Earth is defined as that half which is exposed to the Sun (this changes with the seasons and is not related directly to the Earth's poles or equator, thus the Earth's center is wherever the Sun is directly overhead).

The adjoining diagram illustrates solar eclipse gamma: The red line shows the least distance from the center of the Earth, in this case approximately 75% of radius of the Earth. Because the umbra passes north of the Earth's center, gamma in this example is +0.75.

The absolute value of gamma allows us to distinguish different kinds of solar eclipses:

• If gamma is 0 the axis of the shadow cone is exactly between the northern and southern halves of the sunlit side of the Earth (for solar eclipses) or Moon (for lunar eclipses) when it passes over the center.
• If gamma is lower than 0.9972, the eclipse is central. The axis of the shadow cone strikes the Earth and there are locations on Earth, where the Moon can be seen central in front of the Sun. Central eclipses can be total or annular (if the tip of the umbra reaches surface of Earth barely reaches earth the type can change during the eclipse from annular to total and vice versa, this is called a hybrid eclipse).
• If gamma constitutes between 0.9972 and 1.0260 the axis of the shadow cone misses Earth, but because of the umbra or antumbra has a certain width in some circumstances a part of the umbra or antumbra can touch Earth in polar regions. The result is a non central total or annular eclipse.
• If gamma is between 0.9972 and approximately 1.55 and the special circumstances mentioned above do not occur the eclipse is partial, the Earth traverses only the penumbra.

If the Earth were a sphere, the limit for a central eclipse would be 1.0, but because of the oblateness of the Earth it is 0.9972.

The Solar eclipse of April 29, 2014 with gamma of 1.0001 constitutes the special case of an annular but not central eclipse. The axis of the shadow cone barely misses Earth's south. Thus no central line can be specified for the zone of annular visibility.

Gamma is a 1975 Italian science fiction-drama television miniseries directed by Salvatore Nocita and starring Giulio Brogi. The story of a brain transplant on a young race car driver and of its ethical implications, it was broadcast on Rai 1.