Tetryon

• Natural particle stable only within subspace domains (TNG Novel: The Buried Age; TNG: "Schisms"; DS9: "Visionary")
  • Unstable, rapidly and energetically decompose within normal space (TNG Novel: The Buried Age; TNG: "Schisms")
• Common byproduct of subspace fields (DS9: "The Die is Cast", "The Adversary")
  • Commonly associated with subspace breaches or phenomena (TNG: "Force of Nature")
  • Excessive levels of tetryon radiation can disrupt subspace fields, impeding or preventing warp travel (TNG: "Force of Nature")
• Exposure to tetryons can be hazardous or fatal through multiflux gamma radiation exposure (DS9: "Necessary Evil", "The Begotten"; VOY: "Non Sequitur", "Workforce")
  • Occasionally used as basis for weapons technology as a result, though difficulty in generating tetryons in normal space coupled with fundamental inefficency in energy expenditure and ineffectiveness as compared with simpler constructions renders such weapons rare, not often checked for (DS9: "Necessary Evil"; VOY: "Favorite Son", "Bliss")
• Strong tetryon bombardment can disrupt certain types of directed energy weapons (DS9: "Blood Oath")