Isn’t that distinction more philosophical than not?
Like the Feynman diagram is in any case that a photon is transmitted between two charged objects, whether that photon is “real” or “virtual”.
I know there are physicists who interpret this as there being two distinct things, either particle-like excitations (photons) and more general excitations (not photons). These usually don’t think of Feynman diagrams as representing anything real.
But I also know there are some physicists who consider virtual photons “real”. And in that picture of reality, all EM interaction is “light”.
Like the Feynman diagram is in any case that a photon is transmitted between two charged objects, whether that photon is “real” or “virtual”.
I know there are physicists who interpret this as there being two distinct things, either particle-like excitations (photons) and more general excitations (not photons). These usually don’t think of Feynman diagrams as representing anything real.
But I also know there are some physicists who consider virtual photons “real”. And in that picture of reality, all EM interaction is “light”.