heterotic, a.
(hɛtəˈrɒtɪk)
[f. heterosis + -otic; in sense 1 f. directly on Gr. ἑτέρωσις alteration.]
1. Pertaining to the manipulation of differences (nonce-use).
| 1905 G. M. Fisher tr. Höffding's Probl. Philos. ii. 99 The advance of knowledge consists in a reduction of differences (to a ‘heterotic minimum’) and in an approximation to a pure description of a continuous process. |
2. Genetics. Pertaining to or exhibiting heterosis (sense 3).
| 1914 Zeitschr. f. induktive Abstammungs- und Vererbungslehre XII. 127 A highly heterotic plant..because of its unusual vigor may develop branches from buds which in a weaker plant would remain dormant. 1944 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club May 267 (heading) Heterotic hybrids. 1967 Amer. Naturalist CI. 189 (heading) Opposite heterotic effects on male weights of reciprocal species hybrids. |
______________________________
▸ Physics. In string theory: designating or relating to a string which is conceived as combining features of 26-dimensional bosonic strings and 10-dimensional superstrings.
| 1985 D. Gross et al. in Physical Rev. Lett. 54 502/2 We shall outline the construction of a new kind of closed-string theory... We show that the orientable, closed heterotic* string has [etc.]. [Note] *From the Greek ‘heterosis’: increased vigor displayed by cross-bred animals or plants. 1988 S. W. Hawking Brief Hist. Time x. 162 A large number of people soon began to work on string theory and a new version was developed, the so-called heterotic string. 1997 Nucl. Physics (B.) 506 267 We consider axion-free quantum corrected black hole solutions in the context of the heterotic S-T model with half the N = 2, D = 4 supersymmetries unbroken. 2002 UFO Mag. Jan. 20/3 The Horava–Witten theory, together with the heterotic M-theory, propose that particles are constrained to move on one of the three-dimensional boundaries on either side of the extra dimensional interval. |