AIMS AND SCOPE

SYMMETRY: Culture and Science provides an interdisciplinary forum for representatives of the various fields of art, science, and technology. According to its established tradition, it publishes papers by scientists addressed to their colleagues active in other disciplines, or even in different fields of the arts; and also papers by artists addressed to the representatives of the sciences and diverse fields of technology. Symmetry appears in articles of the various disciplinary and art periodicals, however those tend not to reach scholars in other fields of study. The journal SYMMETRY aims at conveying to them knowledge, methods, and novelties which are applicable to their main fields of interest and creative work. Its basic goal is building bridges between various fields of the arts and sciences, between various disciplines, and between different cultures.

Symmetry is suitable for such a bridging function. It is a concept, a phenomenon, a class of properties, and a method. It is present in almost all disciplines and fields of art and technology. As a concept, it has roots in both science and art. As a phenomenon, symmetry or its lack is present in all fields of art, science, and technology. Finally, properties and methods, based on the application and the investigation of symmetry (and symmetry breaking) are transferred from one field to another.

Symmetry is understood here in a broad sense, and approach to its study will be referred to as symmetrology. In contrast to the common geometric concept, one can speak about a more general scientific meaning of symmetry if: (i) under any kind of transformation (operation), (ii) at least one property, (iii) of an object is left invariant (intact). This generalised concept of symmetry makes possible the application of symmetry to both animate and inanimate material objects, as well as to products of our mind. In addition to geometric (morphological) symmetries (such as reflection, rotation, translation, etc.), the scope of the journal covers functional symmetries and asymmetries (e.g., in the human brain), gauge symmetries (of physical phenomena), and properties, like color, tone, shading, weight, and so on (of artistic objects). The journal focuses not only on the concept of symmetry, but also on its associates (asymmetry, dissymmetry, and antisymmetry) and related concepts (such as proportion, harmony, rhythm, and invariance) in an interdisciplinary and intercultural context.

SYMMETRY publishes original papers on symmetry and related questions which present new results, or new connections between known results. The papers are addressed to a broad non-specialist public, without becoming too general, and have an interdisciplinary character in any of the following senses:

(1) they describe concrete interdisciplinary 'bridges' between different fields of art, science, and technology using the concept or related to the phenomenon of symmetry;
(2) they survey the importance of the application of symmetry (antisymmetry, etc.) in a concrete field with an emphasis on possible 'bridges' to other fields.

The journal also has a special interest in historic and educational questions, as well as in symmetry-related methods and processes.

Mathematical papers are indexed by Zentralblatt MATH