IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v559y2018i7712d10.1038_s41586-018-0265-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Universality of free fall from the orbital motion of a pulsar in a stellar triple system

Author

Listed:
  • Anne M. Archibald

    (Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam
    Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON))

  • Nina V. Gusinskaia

    (Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam)

  • Jason W. T. Hessels

    (Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam
    Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON))

  • Adam T. Deller

    (Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn
    The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav))

  • David L. Kaplan

    (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)

  • Duncan R. Lorimer

    (West Virginia University
    Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology)

  • Ryan S. Lynch

    (Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology
    Green Bank Observatory)

  • Scott M. Ransom

    (National Radio Astronomy Observatory)

  • Ingrid H. Stairs

    (University of British Columbia)

Abstract

Einstein’s theory of gravity—the general theory of relativity1—is based on the universality of free fall, which specifies that all objects accelerate identically in an external gravitational field. In contrast to almost all alternative theories of gravity2, the strong equivalence principle of general relativity requires universality of free fall to apply even to bodies with strong self-gravity. Direct tests of this principle using Solar System bodies3,4 are limited by the weak self-gravity of the bodies, and tests using pulsar–white-dwarf binaries5,6 have been limited by the weak gravitational pull of the Milky Way. PSR J0337+1715 is a hierarchical system of three stars (a stellar triple system) in which a binary consisting of a millisecond radio pulsar and a white dwarf in a 1.6-day orbit is itself in a 327-day orbit with another white dwarf. This system permits a test that compares how the gravitational pull of the outer white dwarf affects the pulsar, which has strong self-gravity, and the inner white dwarf. Here we report that the accelerations of the pulsar and its nearby white-dwarf companion differ fractionally by no more than 2.6 × 10−6. For a rough comparison, our limit on the strong-field Nordtvedt parameter, which measures violation of the universality of free fall, is a factor of ten smaller than that obtained from (weak-field) Solar System tests3,4 and a factor of almost a thousand smaller than that obtained from other strong-field tests5,6.

Suggested Citation

  • Anne M. Archibald & Nina V. Gusinskaia & Jason W. T. Hessels & Adam T. Deller & David L. Kaplan & Duncan R. Lorimer & Ryan S. Lynch & Scott M. Ransom & Ingrid H. Stairs, 2018. "Universality of free fall from the orbital motion of a pulsar in a stellar triple system," Nature, Nature, vol. 559(7712), pages 73-76, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:559:y:2018:i:7712:d:10.1038_s41586-018-0265-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0265-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0265-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41586-018-0265-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xin Zheng & Jonathan Dolde & Matthew C. Cambria & Hong Ming Lim & Shimon Kolkowitz, 2023. "A lab-based test of the gravitational redshift with a miniature clock network," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:559:y:2018:i:7712:d:10.1038_s41586-018-0265-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.