Teleportation

Teleportation is the transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. The mechanism that allows Type I to do this is quantum teleportation of information between two quantum systems of carriers.

A two-state qubit is like a bit, but can have a measurement value of both a 0 and a 1. The quantum two-state system transfers quantum information from one location to another without losing any information. This involves moving the information between carriers, like sending voice data through phones, so nothing is "teleported". The components needed include a sender, the information (a qubit), a channel, and a receiver. An entangled quantum state has to be created for the qubit to be transferred, which places two or more particles into a single, shared quantum state. They form a connection: if one particle is moved, the other particle will move along with it through open space without the need for cables. Any information will not travel faster than the speed of light unless a device such as a wormhole is used. The receiver then recreates the original information that the sender had sent, resulting in the information being "teleported" or carried into a target quantum state. Initially photons, atoms, electrons are teleported, then molecules, then complex lifeforms and finally sapient species.

Quantum teleportation asks deep metaphysical questions. What happens when you die? Religions say that a “soul” can exist after death. What then happens to the soul during the transport process? If a person were teleported and remained intact and observably unchanged, it would provide dramatic evidence that a human being is no more than the sum of his or her quantum parts, and directly confront a wealth of spiritual beliefs.

Type II and above use communication wormholes or subspace to teleport matter or send information faster than light,

In Star Trek, the transporter was a "subspace" device capable of almost instantaneously transporting an object from one location to another, by using matter-energy conversion to transform matter into energy, then beaming it to or from a chamber where it is reconverted back into its original pattern. First the transporter locks on target. Then it scans the image to be transported, dematerializes it, holds it in a computer's pattern buffer for a while, and then transmits the matter stream in an “annular confinement beam” to its destination. The transporter thus sends out the matter along with the information. Biofilters were used to decontaminate transported objects and prevent harmful substances, pathogens, and even radiation from contaminating the rest of the ship or station. The range was about forty thousand kilometers, though subspace transport could beam over several light years.

On the other end of the scale, Q could teleport at will anywhere in the universe, but they were at least Type IV entities with technology so advanced that it was magical to the species of Star Trek.