Graviton

Voyager uses a resonant graviton beam to open a quantum singularity

A graviton is a subatomic particle which transmits the force of gravity.

Overview

In 2367, the USS Enterprise encountered a species of two-dimensional lifeforms, which was able to polarize the graviton field as they moved, trapping the Enterprise in its wake. This severely endangered the ship, as the lifeforms were on course to a cosmic string fragment. The Enterprise was eventually able to escape by simulating the subspace frequencies of the string, and projecting it in a new direction. (TNG: "The Loss")

Later that year, Lieutenant Reginald Barclay, having had his intelligence drastically increased by the Cytherians, was able to use the Enterprise's warp nacelles to generate a highly-charged graviton field, creating a subspace distortion that transported the ship to the center of the galaxy. (TNG: "The Nth Degree")

In 2368, Doctor Kila Marr hijacked a graviton beam the Enterprise was using in an attempt to communicate with the Crystalline Entity, and used it to destroy the lifeform in revenge for the death of her son in 2336. (TNG: "Silicon Avatar")

In 2369, the crew of the Enterprise used a series of coherent graviton pulses to neutralize tetryon emissions being transmitted through a spatial rupture from a tertiary subspace manifold. Although a group of aliens on the other side of the rupture were temporarily successful in counteracting the pulses, Commander La Forge managed to channel all of the graviton energy into a single burst via full-spectrum pulse compression, and was able to close the rupture. (TNG: "Schisms")

Later that year, an embryonic lifeform discovered in the Gamma Quadrant began to drain power from station Deep Space 9 and convert it into gravitons as a form of sustenance, and in so doing pulled the station toward the Bajoran wormhole, threatening the station's destruction. The crew was eventually able to save the station by beaming the lifeform into space, where it was able to enter the wormhole by itself. (DS9: "Q-Less")

The crew of Voyager attempts to disperse a displacement wave with a graviton particle field

In 2371, the crew of the USS Voyager attempted to disperse a displacement wave with a graviton particle field, but was unsuccessful in preventing the wave from pulling Voyager into the Delta Quadrant. (VOY: "Caretaker")

In 2373, the two Ferengi Arridor and Kol emitted a high-energy graviton pulse to disrupt Voyager's transporter beam. While successful, the pulse also had the effect of destabilizing the Barzan wormhole, knocking it off of its subspace axis, causing it to shift randomly through space at both ends. (VOY: "False Profits")

29th century Federation timeships utilized artificial temporal rifts with graviton matrices as a means by which to travel through time. Such a rift was encountered in the Delta Quadrant by Voyager in 2373, created by Captain Braxton on the timeship Aeon, who had traveled back in time in a misguided attempt to destroy Voyager. (VOY: "Future's End")

Deep Space 9 fires a phase-conjugate graviton beam towards the Bajoran wormhole

Later that year, the crew of Deep Space 9 attempted to use a phase-conjugate graviton beam to seal the Bajoran wormhole, as a way to prevent a Dominion invasion of the Alpha Quadrant. The beam was meant to collapse the wormhole's spatial matrix and close it forever. However, due to sabotage by a Changeling disguised as Julian Bashir, the beam had the exact opposite effect, making the matrix even more stable. (DS9: "In Purgatory's Shadow", "By Inferno's Light")

Later in 2373, Seven of Nine was able to realign Voyager's deflector emitters to emit a resonant graviton beam, with which to open a quantum singularity. The singularity acted as an interdimensional rift through which Voyager was able to enter fluidic space. (VOY: "Scorpion, Part II")

In 2375, while commanding the IKS Ning'tao, Dahar master Kor was able to prevent a fleet of ten Jem'Hadar fighters from catching up to a group of Birds of Prey by generating a massive inverse graviton burst by diverting warp power to the Ning'tao's main deflector. The graviton burst had the effect of disrupting the Jem'Hadar's warp fields, forcing them to drop to impulse before the gravitons dispersed after a period of approximately two minutes. (DS9: "Once More Unto the Breach")

Later that year, Voyager became trapped in a region of chaotic space, an area where known laws of physics were in a state of flux. While the crew was attempting to navigate their way out of this space, Voyager began encountering extremely powerful graviton waves. The resultant graviton shear threatened to destroy the ship, but Commander Chakotay managed to make contact with a race of aliens indigenous to chaotic space, who were able to provide him with the means by which Voyager could safely exit. (VOY: "The Fight")

File:Graviton catapult.jpg

The catapult locks onto Tash's vessel with a graviton surge

In 2376, the Voyager crew encountered Tash, an alien scientist who had constructed a so-called "graviton catapult," with which to return to his homeworld, ten years distant. The catapult operated by sending a graviton surge through a series of projectors, which then locked onto a target vessel and transported it into null space, to emerge a few hours later hundreds, if not thousands of light years away. When Voyager came upon the catapult, Tash was experiencing difficulties in stabilizing its tetryon reactor after a test on a probe. The Voyager crew subsequently offered to help, using a series of precision-timed graviton pulses emitted from Voyager's deflector dish to stabilize the core. The effort was successful, and Tash was able to return to his homeworld, allowing the Voyager crew to use the catapult after his trip, in order to shorten their own journey back to the Alpha Quadrant. (VOY: "The Voyager Conspiracy")

A year later, Voyager was pulled into an anomaly called "the Void," by powerful graviton forces which originated from within. While trapped inside, the crew was able to determine that the graviton forces were created by funnels which originated inside the anomaly. When the graviton forces reached critical levels, the polarity reversed, pulling anything near the funnel into the anomaly. The crew developed a plan whereby they would enter one of the funnels as it was opening, and use the graviton forces to propel them into normal space, jumping to warp before the polarity reversed, but were unable to institute it as they had no way of compensating for the graviton stress on the ship. In order to overcome this obstacle, the Voyager crew, working together with the crews of other vessels stranded in the Void, constructed a polaron modulator, but were forced to work quickly, as the same graviton forces which pulled Voyager into the Void were also draining the warp core. Fending off attacks from belligerent scavengers, Voyager and the other ships were able return to normal space through one of the funnels. (VOY: "The Void")

Applications

• Antigraviton emitter
• Graviton beam
• Graviton catapult
• Graviton emitter
• Graviton field
• Graviton generator
• Graviton pulse
• Graviton shock wave
• Graviton stabilizer
• Graviton surge
• Graviton telescope
• Heavy graviton beam

See also

• Antigraviton

Natural occurrences

• Gravity
• Graviton ellipse
• Graviton wave
• Graviton matrix