Bremen 2017 – scientific programme

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GR: Fachverband Gravitation und Relativitätstheorie

GR 8: Experimentelle Tests 1

GR 8.1: Invited Talk

Wednesday, March 15, 2017, 08:30–09:10, SFG 0140

Radio pulsars -- unique gravity laboratories in space — •Norbert Wex — Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Bonn, Germany

The discovery of the Hulse-Taylor binary pulsar in 1974 has opened up a completely new field of experimental gravity. In two aspects, pulsars have taken precision gravity tests qualitatively beyond the weak-field slow-motion regime of the Solar system: They provided the first experimental evidence for the existence of gravitational waves, and they allowed for the first time to test the gravitational interaction of strongly self-gravitating bodies. To date, we know several radio pulsars that can be utilized for precise measurements of different gravitational phenomena in a strong-field context. In particular, the so-called 'Double Pulsar' has more than lived up to our early expectations. In many aspects, pulsar experiments are also complementary to present and upcoming gravity experiments with terrestrial gravitational-wave observatories.

The talk gives an introduction to gravity tests with radio pulsars, highlights some of the most important results, and gives a brief outlook into the future of this exciting field of experimental gravity.