# Quantum gravity without gravitons


[![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1743070701609/37d66670-8fc0-4c94-b58a-eb510a14e8c3.jpeg)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LQG_black_hole_Horizon.jpg)

**Charles Choi** [writes on _Scientific American_](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-gravity-quantum/):

> In a [paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.04437) recently accepted by the journal _Classical and Quantum Gravity_, however, astrophysicist **Richard Lieu** of the University of Alabama, Huntsville, argues that LIGO should already have detected gravitons if they carry as much energy as some current models of particle physics suggest. It might be that the graviton just packs less energy than expected, but Lieu suggests it might also mean the graviton does not exist.

But:

> [Loop quantum gravity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loop_quantum_gravity) does not use gravitons as building blocks.