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Is there some model, mathematical or physical, that postulates that gravitons exist? For example is there mass missing from some particle decay that is thought to form gravitons? Or something in the math that indicates it? All I can find are opinions, but with no formal evidence. Is there such evidence, regardless of how weak?

Qmechanic
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foolishmuse
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    This question seems to be asking two different questions at once - having a model in which gravitons exist is very different from having evidence for gravitons (and I don't know what "formal" evidence is). Which of the two do you really want to ask and how is this not a duplicate? For why we (think we) need quantum gravity/gravitons, see https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/387/50583, https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/5072/50583. For the existence of gravitons, see https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/119254/50583, https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/235413/50583 – ACuriousMind Sep 14 '22 at 16:55
  • I am definitely NOT asking if there is evidence of gravitons or why we need gravitons. What I am asking for is some model that shows that the particle exists, or should exist, based on empirical data or model. For example missing mass from some particle decay, or a missing element in a math model. – foolishmuse Sep 14 '22 at 16:58
  • The question was closed darned fast. Based on the potentially duplicate question, we are told that gravitons are pure conjecture, with no formational basis of the type I'm asking. – foolishmuse Sep 14 '22 at 17:06
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    Would you rather assume that gravity is some kind of exception to quantum mechanics? – Ghoster Sep 14 '22 at 17:09
  • @Ghoster Considering that gravitons are supposed to be some particle that makes up spacetime, while all other particles sit on top of spacetime, I'd say that gravitons are indeed an exception to quantum field theory. – foolishmuse Sep 14 '22 at 17:12
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    Have you looked at, say, the graviton-graviton scattering calculations that de Witt did sixty years ago? They look like normal QFT to me. I think you are also confusing the quanta of a field with the field itself. – Ghoster Sep 14 '22 at 17:15
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    @Ghoster Photon-Graviton Scattering is exactly the type of answer I was hoping for. Something beyond mere conjecture. Thanks for pointing me in that direction. It's too bad that the question was closed before you could have posted it as an answer. – foolishmuse Sep 14 '22 at 17:21
  • https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.06298 – Ghoster Sep 14 '22 at 17:24
  • This one looks a little better https://arxiv.org/pdf/2001.10196.pdf – foolishmuse Sep 14 '22 at 21:23
  • In section 9.3, this paper uses gravitons to calculate the deflection of starlight photons around the Sun. The point of the paper is that GR can be treated as an effective QFT. Gravitons are not an exception to QFT; they are the inevitable result of quantizing metric perturbations. – Ghoster Sep 14 '22 at 23:36

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