Star Trek Technology
Q
Q Continuum
Canon - Official Star Trek Technology
Realm of the Q entities.
The Voyager episodes "Death Wish" and "The Q and the
Gray" show the Q Continuum, or more precisely, a simplified representation
of it. It could be a parallel space or time or anything else.
Content thanks to "www.ex-astris-scientia.org"
Quad (unit)
Canon - Official Star Trek Technology
Unit for the measurement of the amount of computer data, usually expressed
in the multiples of 1000 (kiloquad), 1 million (megaquad) or 1 billion
(gigaquad).
Since the storage capacity and computing velocity of contemporary computers
is (still) exponentially increasing, the TNG episodes would have become
ridiculous after a few years, if computer data aboard the Enterprise
had been measured in bytes. In this respect it was a wise decision to
introduce quads instead and to veil the conversion factor from bytes
to quads. Unfortunately, the Voyager authors could not resist increasing
the capacities to ridiculous quad figures (see here).
Content thanks to "www.ex-astris-scientia.org"
Quantum singularity
Canon - Official Star Trek Technology
Also referred to as black hole. Romulan Warbirds employ a quantum
singularity as their power source, and the Hirogen communications network
too.
Basically, a black hole is supposed to accumulate energy, never ever
emitting anything of it. Stephen Hawking, however, postulated that black
holes do actually emit radiation, or shrink in terms of mass. This strange
behavior is a consequence of the quantum uncertainty. According to quantum
mechanics, it is in no way prohibited that a particle/antiparticle pair
is generated from nothing, as long as their lifetime is so short that
it is not noticed. If this happens at the event horizon, one particle
might fall into the black hole, whereas the other could escape. In this
case it would seem as if the black hole does emit radiation, and the
Romulans obviously take advantage of this effect.
Content thanks to "www.ex-astris-scientia.org"
Quantum slipstream drive
Canon - Official Star Trek Technology
Propulsion technology exceeding the capabilities of conventional warp
drive.
The quantum slipstream drive was introduced in VOY: "Hope and Fear"
as the propulsion system of the fake Federation ship U.S.S. Dauntless
and implemented on Voyager in "Timeless". According to Seven
of Nine, the technology is akin to Borg transwarp (TNG: "Descent").
In this case a kind of space fold would be created to bridge large distances
similar to a wormhole. A satisfactory theory is missing, and the shown
effects are contradictory. While it was possible to change course like
with a normal warp drive in "Hope and Fear", the Delta Flyer
remained in slipstream in "Timeless" without being equipped
with such a drive. Moreover, in both episodes the impression is created
that a simple modification to the power system would suffice.
Content thanks to "www.ex-astris-scientia.org"
Quantum torpedo
Canon - Official Star Trek Technology
Further development of a photon torpedo
that takes advantage of a quantum uncertainty to generate additional
particles and enhance the detonation.
The quantum torpedoes are discussed in the DS9 Technical Manual, however,
their principle is hard to understand, because an 11-dimensional quantum
membrane and quantum uncertainty (similar to Hawking's theory) are involved.
Anyway, the device consists of two stages, a "conventional"
matter/antimatter booster that initializes a quantum warhead.
Content thanks to "www.ex-astris-scientia.org"
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