They're a thing that if present will maybe make a detector go click (or beep, or light up, or whatever that detector does to say "yes something is here"). Does

They're a thing that if present will maybe make a detector go click (or beep, or light up, or whatever that detector does to say "yes something is here"). Doesn't that make them a particle? Or is there a better idea of what particles are that I should be using?