4 Tests of GR – Strong-Field Gravity

The best-known uses of pulsars for testing the predictions of gravitational theories are those in which the predicted strong-field effects are compared directly against observations. As essentially point-like objects in strong gravitational fields, neutron stars in binary systems provide extraordinarily clean tests of these predictions. This section will cover the relation between the “post-Keplerian” timing parameters and strong-field effects, and then discuss the three binary systems that yield complementary high-precision tests.