Testing Einstein with pulsars
and black holes

Pulsars are fascinating objects that allow us to test the extremes of the observable Universe. They act as cosmic lighthouses, sending short radio pulses with the regularity of the best atomic clocks on Earth. Pulsars are therefore ideal cosmic laboratories to test the predictions of theories of gravity, particularly those of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Consequently, the study of pulsars has provided us with the best tests of general relativity in strong gravitational fields. This was achieved in particular with the observation of a unique system known as the Double Pulsar where two pulsars orbit each other in only 145 minutes. This talk will describe these tests and will also take a look into the future, where we expect to find pulsars orbiting even more extreme objects – black holes. With such systems we can study the properties of black holes in detail and test Einstein’s description of these enigmatic objects.

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About Michael Kramer

Michael Kramer is Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Manchester and Associate Director of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics. His main research interest is in pulsars and neutron stars which he observes with telescopes around the world and across the electromagnetic spectrum. He uses pulsars for a wide variety of applications in fundamental physics and astrophysics, such as precision tests of general relativity, studies of galactic structure and stellar and binary evolution.

Michael Kramer’s home page