Michael Kramer - Almost 50 Years of Probing Strong-field Gravity with Pulsars
Channel: Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHÉS)
Date: 2021-10-18

Michael Kramer, MPI, Bonn

Almost 50 Years of Probing Strong-field Gravity with Pulsars - and Still Going Strong

We experience a golden era in testing and exploring relativistic gravity using gravitational wave detectors, satellites, lab experiments, and also radio astronomical observations. Here, especially binary pulsars provide us with complementary insight. Having provided the first evidence for gravitational waves, pulsars continue to allow probing relativistic strong-field effects - within a framework co-designed by Thibault Damour - that cannot be studied by other means. This talk will present an overview and the latest results of high-precision measurements that go beyond the previous state-of-art, giving access both to studies of relativistic gravity as well as neutron star properties.