The Java ternary operator is a shorthand notation for an if-else statement. It is also known as the conditional operator. The ternary operator takes three operands: a boolean expression, a value to be returned if the expression is true, and a value to be returned if the expression is false.

The syntax of the ternary operator is as follows:

boolean_expression ? value_if_true : value_if_false;

Here is an example that demonstrates the use of the ternary operator:

int a = 10;
int b = 20;
int max = (a > b) ? a : b;
System.out.println("The maximum value is " + max);

In this example, the ternary operator (a > b) ? a : b is used to determine the maximum value between a and b. If the boolean expression (a > b) is true, the value of a is returned; otherwise, the value of b is returned. The result is assigned to the variable max, which is then printed to the console.