Thread: The Purpose of Gravitons?

As I understand it, the mass of an object creates or determines its gravity, and gravity operates by warping space around a massive object, thus causing other objects to orbit them or fall into or toward them.

If this is the case (mass creates gravity, gravity warps space and thus accounts for the influence of gravity over objects), what, then, is the purpose of the graviton particle? It would seem to me unnecessary, given the above explanation, and yet gravitons are thought to exist.

Thanks!

Graviton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by skb8721

As I understand it, the mass of an object creates or determines its gravity, and gravity operates by warping space around a massive object, thus causing other objects to orbit them or fall into or toward them.

If this is the case (mass creates gravity, gravity warps space and thus accounts for the influence of gravity over objects), what, then, is the purpose of the graviton particle? It would seem to me unnecessary, given the above explanation, and yet gravitons are thought to exist.

Thanks!

Gravitons are hypothetical particles which result when one tries to formulate gravity not in terms of geometry ( like relativity does ), but as a quantum field theory. In that formalism forces are mediated by carrier particles, so called vector bosons. The graviton would be the vector boson of gravity ( it would be a spin-2, massless, uncharged particle ). The important thing to realize is that gravitons only mediate changes in the gravitational field; they are not exchanged in static fields. They are thus analogous to gravitational waves.

They are a quantized interpretation of Gravity. It doesn't mean that we don't understand gravity without it. It just means it would be more simpler to understand with it.