So lets do this again at a layman level, a flat empty section of vacuum of space is exactly that flat and empty. Virtual particles may briefly pop in and out of existence but on the whole the section remains flat and empty.
OK so far.
We can describe gravity as particles responding to the presence of spacetime curvature,
As we started with a flat empty section of vacuum of space, would I be right in thinking that the curvature you have introduced is caused by the particles which subsequently respond to the curvature?
or we can describe them as resulting from the exchange of virtual gravitons.
If we regard the particles as resulting from the exchange of virtual gravitons, wouldn’t the gravitational “field” have to be in the flat empty section of vacuum of space first? How do you square that with the idea that gravity is the curvature of spacetime caused by the presence of particles?
