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Science 4 July 2008:
Vol. 321. no. 5885, pp. 104 - 107
DOI: 10.1126/science.1159295
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Reports
Relativistic Spin Precession in the Double Pulsar
Rene P. Breton,1*
Victoria M. Kaspi,1
Michael Kramer,2
Maura A. McLaughlin,3,4
Maxim Lyutikov,5
Scott M. Ransom,6
Ingrid H. Stairs,7
Robert D. Ferdman,7,8
Fernando Camilo,9
Andrea Possenti10
The double pulsar PSR J0737–3039A/B consists of two neutron stars in a highly relativistic orbit that displays a roughly 30-second eclipse when pulsar A passes behind pulsar B. Describing this eclipse of pulsar A as due to absorption occurring in the magnetosphere of pulsar B, we successfully used a simple geometric model to characterize the observed changing eclipse morphology and to measure the relativistic precession of pulsar B's spin axis around the total orbital angular momentum. This provides a test of general relativity and alternative theories of gravity in the strong-field regime. Our measured relativistic spin precession rate of  per year (68% confidence level) is consistent with that predicted by general relativity within an uncertainty of 13%.
2 Jodrell Bank Observatory, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
3 Department of Physics, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA.
4 National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, WV 24944, USA.
5 Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
6 National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA.
7 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada.
8 Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement–CNRS, F-45071 Orleans cedex 2, France.
9 Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
10 Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Poggio dei Pini, 09012 Capoterra, Italy.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bretonr{at}physics.mcgill.ca
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