Abstract
The discovery of the first binary pulsar in 1974 has opened up a completely new field of experimental gravity. In numerous important ways, pulsars have taken precision gravity tests quantitatively and qualitatively beyond the weak-field slow-motion regime of the Solar System. Apart from the first verification of the existence of gravitational waves, binary pulsars for the first time gave us the possibility to study the dynamics of strongly self-gravitating bodies with high precision. To date there are several radio pulsars known which can be utilized for precision tests of gravity. Depending on their orbital properties and the nature of their companion, these pulsars probe various different predictions of general relativity and its alternatives in the mildly relativistic strong-field regime. In many aspects, pulsar tests are complementary to other present and upcoming gravity experiments, like gravitational-wave observatories or the Event Horizon Telescope. This review gives an introduction to gravity tests with radio pulsars and its theoretical foundations, highlights some of the most important results, and gives a brief outlook into the future of this important field of experimental gravity.
Highlights
Already one week before Albert Einstein presented his final field equations of general relativity (GR) to the Prussian Academy of Science [1], he demonstrated that his new theory of gravity naturally explains the anomalous perihelion precession of Mercury [2]
In the last few decades since the discovery of the first binary pulsar, pulsar astronomy has provided some of the best experiments for gravitational physics, with GR having passed them all with flying colors
Binary pulsars provided the first verification of the existence of gravitational waves, having reached a precision of well below 0.1% in confirming the quadrupole formula of GR
Summary
Already one week before Albert Einstein presented his final field equations of general relativity (GR) to the Prussian Academy of Science [1], he demonstrated that his new theory of gravity naturally explains the anomalous perihelion precession of Mercury [2]. This includes experiments that test the propagation of photons in the gravitational field of a NS. It was necessary to be selective in the topics covered, a selection that is inevitably biased by personal preferences
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