Neutrino radiator/Legends

A neutrino radiator is a type of electroweak particle converter used primarily in shielding technology to eliminate excess energy. Without adequate dispersal, the energy absorbed by the protective field would quickly build to critical levels, resulting in the overloading and collapse of the shield envelope. Neutrino radiators function by converting excess energy into neutrinos, a type of particle with extremely low mass (thousands of times smaller than a proton) and no electromagnetic charge. Traveling at nearly the speed of light, they are virtually impossible to detect, due to their incredibly weak interaction with other matter. A single neutrino could easily pass through over a trillion kilometers of lead without losing an erg of energy. Because they have virtually no effect on nearby matter, they are nearly impossible to detect without specialized gravitic sensors, and even then neutrino signatures are difficult to pick out against the background neutrinos emitted in the quadrillions by every star in the Galaxy. However, in most cases the energy signature of the shield envelope itself is readily apparent to a properly calibrated scanner.