Are Gravity Waves Distortions of Space-Time That Create Gravitons?

[Gal]

If a mass bends space-time somehow and then I nudge it, the bend changes. This distortion of space-time bend is supposedly expanding at the speed of light and could be called a "gravity wave" that carries energy. Why is this wave not the distortion that creates a "graviton" like EM and photons?

 

[bcrowell]

Why is this wave not the distortion that creates a "graviton" like EM and photons?

Why do you phrase this in the negative?

We presume that gravity is quantized, although we currently don't have a working theory of quantum gravity. "Graviton" is our name for the quantum of the gravitational field.

 

[Demystifier]

If a mass bends space-time somehow and then I nudge it, the bend changes. This distortion of space-time bend is supposedly expanding at the speed of light and could be called a "gravity wave" that carries energy. Why is this wave not the distortion that creates a "graviton" like EM and photons?

Actually it is. Roughly speaking, a quantum description of gravity wave is called graviton.

 

[Gal]

Actually it is. Roughly speaking, a quantum description of gravity wave is called graviton.

But is space-time a quantum field? Do gravitons theoretically excite this "field"?

 

[Demystifier]

But is space-time a quantum field? Do gravitons theoretically excite this "field"?

The metric of space-time can be treated as a quantum field, in which case gravitons are excitations of this field.