Testing General Relativity with Pulsar Timing
Abstract
Pulsars of very different types, including isolated objects and binaries (with short- and long-period orbits, and white-dwarf and neutron-star companions) provide the means to test both the predictions of general relativity and the viability of alternate theories of gravity. This article presents an overview of pulsars, then discusses the current status of and future prospects for tests of equivalence-principle violations and strong-field gravitational experiments.
- Publication:
-
Living Reviews in Relativity
- Pub Date:
- September 2003
- DOI:
- 10.12942/lrr-2003-5
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0307536
- Bibcode:
- 2003LRR.....6....5S
- Keywords:
-
- pulsars;
- neutron stars;
- white dwarfs;
- binary systems;
- astronomical observations;
- gravitational radiation;
- tests of relativistic gravity;
- theories of gravity;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 60 pages, accepted for publication in Living Reviews in Relativity (see http://relativity.livingreviews.org). Version with high-resolution figures at http://www.astro.ubc.ca/people/stairs/papers/sta03.ps.gz