Berlin 2005 – scientific programme

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GR: Gravitation und Relativitätstheorie

GR 17: Relativit
ätstheorie im Experiment

GR 17.3: Invited Talk

Wednesday, March 9, 2005, 11:45–12:30, TU BH262

The first double pulsar - A unique laboratory to test general relativity — •Michael Kramer — Jodrell Bank Observatory, University of Manchester, Jodrell Bank, Macclesfield, SK11 9DL, UK

The first ever double pulsar, discovered by our team last year, consists of two pulsars, one with period of only 22 ms and the other with a period of 2.8 sec. This binary system with an orbital period of only 2.4 hr provides a truly unique laboratory for relativistic gravitational physics. The observations of both pulsars, orbiting each other with orbital speeds exceeding 1 Million km/hr, already allow us to perform the most stringent tests of general relativity in the strong field limit, exceeding the precision tests done with the Hulse-Taylor binary pulsar. In the future, it promises to even allow us the detection of effects of second Post-Newtonian order, and probably the direct measurement of a neutron star’s moment of inertia. In this contribution I report on the discovery of this exciting system and its applications in tests of theories of gravity. I will present the latest results such as the detection of gravitational wave damping and will also demonstrate the double pulsar’s use as a superb tool to study relativistic plasma physics under extreme conditions.