Double Pulsar PSR J0737-3039: Einstein is right again

The ever-unique laboratory is located about 2,400 light-years away in the constellation Puppii, the aft deck of the ship: there, two neutron stars orbit each other in just 147 minutes. They rotate around themselves, and a neutron star needs only 44 milliseconds to spin around its axis. His partner is a bit more leisurely with 2.8 seconds. Researchers on Earth notice something about this because both neutron stars act as pulsars that emit radio waves toward Earth. With the help of radio signals from this double pulsar, named PSR J0737-3039, an international team was able to thoroughly test Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. your results Put it in the journal »Physical Review X« before this.

The short summary is: Einstein is right again. Unfortunately.

The double pulsar PSR J0737-3039 as a test bench for Einstein’s general theory of relativity

For more than 16 years, Michael Kramer’s team from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn investigated the PSR J0737-3039 double pulsar, discovered in 2003, with seven radio telescopes distributed around the world. Double systems, which contain at least one pulsar, are valued by scientists because of their extreme properties. Because the mass of a neutron star can only be slightly greater than that of the Sun, but with a diameter of only about 20 kilometers they are quite small. Therefore in them the effects of the theory of relativity should be noticeable, which cannot be produced by worldly means.

Unique Laboratory of Double Pulsar PSR J0737-3039 | The double pulsar PSR J0737-3039 is so far completely unique: both neutron stars in the double system can be recognized as pulsars on Earth. Furthermore, astronomers are lucky with the geometry, because they look almost exactly from the side of the system: the inclination of its orbital plane relative to ours is less than a degree. Finally, about 2,400 light-years away, the system is relatively close and therefore quite bright. These three factors enable researchers on Earth to rigorously test many of the predictions of general relativity.

For example, as predicted by the general theory of relativity, such a dual system should emit gravitational waves. Since nothing in the universe is free, the system loses energy as a result, which results in the two neutron stars getting closer and closer – until they eventually merge. The team has now proved this point of view, and thus indirectly gravitational waves, says Paulo Freire of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy: “Each year, neutron stars need 39 microseconds less to orbit.” . “This means that neutron stars will merge with each other in about 86 million years.” Such a measurement on the Hulse-Taylor pulsar already deserved the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1993. But current measurements are 25 times more accurate – mainly because the team succeeded in estimating the distance from PSR J0737-3039 to more than is possible with the Nobel Prize-winning Hulse-Taylor pulsar.