this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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Astronomy
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My understanding is that "gravitational waves" are mechanical waves, like water, not "quantum waves" like light.
This article seems to confuse what wave particle duality means:
When it comes to duality it's the particles that exhibit wave-like properties individually.
Wave/Particle duality of quantum objects (quanta) is a bit like bicycle/car duality when looking at motorcycles. Light isn't a wave or a particle, but it has properties of both. Motorcycles aren't pedal-powered bikes or cars, but have properties of both.
There are no particles, just quanta.
Right - that's what I'm saying. But this article seems to think that if you make a bicycle out of cars then you have a motorcycle.. Unless I'm not understanding it.
AFAIK gravity waves are ripples in actual space (mechanical waves) - not a property of "gravitons".
maybe space is the graviton field itself(!), but maybe there is a graviton field (or is it the Higgs field?) and gravitons (and Higgs particles?) are excitations of that field; like other particles are excitations of their various postulated quantum fields