compactify

Definitions

verb humorous, intransitive To become compact or more compact.
verb humorous, transitive To render (a thing) compact or more compact.
verb mathematics, transitive To enlarge (a topological space) in order to render it compact.
verb physics, transitive To adjust a theory so as to render finite or periodic (a theoretical space-time dimension).

From compact and -ify.

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The trick would be to find the right way to compactify those extra dimensions down to the four we know and love, and the connection to observation would be established.

String Theory: Not Dead Yet Sean 2007
Start with D2-branes, compactify one transverse dimensions X1 on a circle, and T-dualize this circle X1.

The Reference Frame 2010
The correct statement is simply that, for a long time, string theorists didn’t know how to compactify from ten dimensions down to four and obtain a positive cosmological constant.

Guest Post: Joe Polchinski on Science or Sociology? Sean 2007
And then you will ask what happens if you compactify one of those dimensions on a circle, and you’ll see that the membranes become superstrings.

Why 10 or 11? Sean 2006
Perhaps they’re Hodge numbers (i.e. topological data) telling us the correct manifold on which to compactify to get our four dimensional world with all the observed physics.

Friday Random Ten: iPod Tells the Future of String Theory? cjohnson 2005