# Does wave-particle duality exist for gravitational waves?

For electromagnetic waves there exists a wave/particle duality: light sometimes behaves as a wave, and other times as a particle (photons).

Does such a duality exist for gravitational waves? In other words would we expect gravitational waves to sometimes behave has particles (gravitons)?

• The wave/particle duality is not a classical/quantum duality. It is a duality that exists solely in quantum theory. Hence photon themselves exhibit a wave/particle duality as do electrons. – Lewis Miller Feb 12 '16 at 16:38
• Let me, again, say that wave-particle duality is an 80+ year old misconception. It's not valid for photons, or electrons or gravitons (if they exist, which I would question in the first place). – CuriousOne Feb 12 '16 at 20:14

Now, theoretically this picture is 'OK' because although any quantum field theory that describes gravity is nonrenormalizable, the energy scale at which we expect new physics associated with gravity to be detectable is extremely large ($\sim 10^{19} \text{GeV}$). Hence, we can use an effective theory valid at low energies to describe gravity in terms of particles, even if the 'true' theory of gravity valid at arbitrary energies or length scales is somewhat different conceptually.