What types of references does the Java garbage collection mechanism use?

In Java, the garbage collection mechanism uses several types of references to manage the lifecycle of objects:

• Strong Reference — a normal reference that prevents the object from being collected.
• Soft Reference — used for caching; the object will be collected only when memory is low.
• Weak Reference — the object can be collected during the next garbage collection cycle, even if weak references exist.
• Phantom Reference — used to track when an object is ready for finalization but has not yet been collected.

These types of references allow for more flexible memory management and optimize garbage collector performance in Android and Java applications.