Gravity waves and Planck's constant

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
2 replies · 3K views
Leonard Begy
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Can the energy of a gravitational wave be related to Plancks constant?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
In a quantum mechanical analysis the energy of everything is related to Planck's constant, so if we're doing a quantum mechanical analysis of gravitational waves Planck's constant would be involved.

However, gravitational waves are predicted by and analyzed using general relativity which is not a quantum-mechanical theory, so Planck's constant isn't involved. It wil only come in when we develop a successful theory of quantum gravity.
 
I don't think this question is clear. I think you have some idea in mind, but that's not what you wrote.

Planck's constant is a constant. You can always multiply or divide by a constant - just like the number 4. So while the answer to your question is formally "yes", I don't think there is any meaning to it.
 
Last edited:
Reply
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: jim mcnamara