The relativistic pulsar-white dwarf binary PSR J1738+0333 - II. The most stringent test of scalar-tensor gravity

By P. Freire, N. Wex, G. Esposito-Farèse, J. Verbiest, M. Bailes, B. Jacoby, Michael Kramer, Ingrid Stairs, J. Antoniadis, G. Janssen. 2012

429 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We report the results of a 10-year timing campaign on PSR J1738+0333, a 5.85-ms pulsar in a low-eccentricity 8.5-h orbit with a low-mass white dwarf companion. We obtained 17 376 pulse times of arrival with a stated uncertainty smaller than s and weighted residual rms of s. The large number and precision of these measurements allow highly significant estimates of the proper motion μα, δ= (+7.037 ± 0.005, +5.073 ± 0.012) mas yr−1, parallax πx = (0.68 ± 0.05) mas and a measurement of the apparent orbital decay, (all 1σ uncertainties). The measurements of μα, δ and πx allow for a precise subtraction of the kinematic contribution to the observed orbital decay; this results in a significant measurement of the intrinsic orbital decay: . This is consistent with the orbital decay from the emission of gravitational waves predicted by general relativity, , i.e. general relativity passes the test represented by the orbital decay of this system. This agreement introduces a tight upper limit on dipolar gravitational wave emission, a prediction of most alternative theories of gravity for asymmetric binary systems such as this. We use this limit to derive the most stringent constraints ever on a wide class of gravity theories, where gravity involves a scalar-field contribution. When considering general scalar–tensor theories of gravity, our new bounds are more stringent than the best current Solar system limits over most of the parameter space, and constrain the matter–scalar coupling constant to be below the 10−5 level. For the special case of the Jordan–Fierz–Brans–Dicke, we obtain the 1σ bound , which is within a factor of 2 of the Cassini limit. We also use our limit on dipolar gravitational wave emission to constrain a wide class of theories of gravity which are based on a generalization of Bekenstein’s Tensor–Vector–Scalar gravity, a relativistic formulation of modified Newtonian dynamics.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/22036d52b49505ac422c4fcebc73222fdac8a3be

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. G. Hobbs
2. R. Shannon
3. N. Langer
4. N. Wex
5. R. Manchester
6. Diego Rubiera-García
7. Kent Yagi
8. Sung-Chul Yoon

In Oceanography

1. G. Hobbs
2. N. Wex
3. R. Shannon
4. R. Manchester
5. J. Verbiest
6. Willem van Straten
7. Kent Yagi
8. J. Weisberg

Citations in the corpus

• Dark Energy in Light of Multi-Messenger Gravitational-Wave Astronomy (2018, background): “Another would be the constraints on Brans-Dicke from a pulsarwhite dwarf binary (Freire et al., 2012).”
• PULSAR J0453+1559: A DOUBLE NEUTRON STAR SYSTEM WITH A LARGE MASS ASYMMETRY (2015, positive): “…become important at the later stages of the merger; however, this possibility is already significantly constrained by the measurement of the orbital decay of PSR J1738+0333 (Freire et al. 2012) and J0348+0432 (Antoniadis et al. 2013), at least in the framework of Scalar-Tensor theories of gravity.”
• RELATIVISTIC MEASUREMENTS FROM TIMING THE BINARY PULSAR PSR B1913+16 (2016, background): “In recent years, however, other pulsars in neutron star-white dwarf binary systems have overtaken PSR B1913+16 in constraining these alternatives (Freire et al. 2012).”
• Timing analysis for 20 millisecond pulsars in the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (2015, methodology): “If the timing parallax distance becomes more precise than the current VLBI distance, these two independent measurements can be used for example to further improve current constraints on the change to Newton’s gravitational constant (Freire et al. 2012).”
• Formation of Double Neutron Star Systems (2017, background): “…objects in relativistic orbits and radio pulsars being ultra stable clocks allows for unprecedented tests of gravitational theories in the strong-field regime (Damour & Taylor 1992; Stairs 2003; Kramer et al. 2006b; Kramer & Wex 2009; Damour 2009; Freire et al. 2012; Wex 2014; Kaspi & Kramer 2016).”
• The International Pulsar Timing Array: First Data Release (2016, neutral): “…Löhmer et al. (2005), (30) Foster, Wolszczan & Camilo (1993), (31) Edwards & Bailes (2001), (32) Janssen et al. (2010), (33) Jacoby (2004), (34) Freire et al. (2012), (35) Stairs et al. (2005), (36) Faulkner et al. (2004), (37) Lorimer et al. (2006), (38) Lyne et al. (1987), (39) Hobbs et al.…”
• Testing Relativistic Gravity with Radio Pulsars (2014, methodology): “s an optically bright low-mass white dwarf (see gure 8). Extensive timing observation over a period of 10 years allowed a determination of astrometric, spin and orbital parameters with high precision [30], most notably A change in the orbital period of ( 17:0 3:1) 10 15. 25 A timing parallax, which ”
• Stellar structure models in modified theories of gravity: Lessons and challenges (2019, background): “5 [255], the corrections on the dominant frequencies are not large enough to overcome the uncertainties on the EOS; thus this modelling cannot be distinguished from GR regarding gravitational waves out”