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Originally published in Science Express on 8 January 2004
Science 20 February 2004:
Vol. 303. no. 5661, pp. 1153 - 1157
DOI: 10.1126/science.1094645
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Research Articles

A Double-Pulsar System: A Rare Laboratory for Relativistic Gravity and Plasma Physics

A. G. Lyne,1* M. Burgay,2 M. Kramer,1 A. Possenti,3,4 R.N. Manchester,5 F. Camilo,6 M. A. McLaughlin,1 D. R. Lorimer,1 N. D'Amico,3,7 B. C. Joshi,8 J. Reynolds,9 P. C. C. Freire10

The clocklike properties of pulsars moving in the gravitational fields of their unseen neutron-star companions have allowed unique tests of general relativity and provided evidence for gravitational radiation. We report here the detection of the 2.8-second pulsar J0737–3039B as the companion to the 23-millisecond pulsar J0737–3039A in a highly relativistic double neutron star system, allowing unprecedented tests of fundamental gravitational physics. We observed a short eclipse of J0737–3039A by J0737–3039B and orbital modulation of the flux density and the pulse shape of J0737–3039B, probably because of the influence of J0737–3039A's energy flux on its magnetosphere. These effects will allow us to probe magneto-ionic properties of a pulsar magnetosphere.

1 Jodrell Bank Observatory, University of Manchester, Macclesfield SK11 9DL, UK.
2 Dipartimento di Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy.
3 Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Localita. Poggio dei Pini, Strada 54, 09012Capoterra, Italy.
4 Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, INAF, Via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy.
5 Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Post Office Box 76, Epping, New South Wales 1710, Australia.
6 Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA.
7 Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, SP Monserrato-Sestu km 0.7, 09042 Monserrato, Italy.
8 National Centre for Astrophysics, Post Office Bag 3, Ganeshkhind, Pune 411007, India.
9 Parkes Observatory, ATNF, Post Office Box 276, Parkes, New South Wales 2870, Australia.
10 National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, Arecibo Observatory, HC03 Box 53995, PR 00612, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: agl{at}jb.man.ac.uk

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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The Physics of Neutron Stars.
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