PSR J1141-6545: a powerful laboratory of GR and tensor-scalar theories of gravity

TL;DR

The paper discusses how the pulsar-white dwarf binary system J1141-6545 serves as a powerful natural laboratory for testing general relativity and tensor-scalar theories of gravity, highlighting current tests and future prospects.

Contribution

It provides an overview of gravitational tests using J1141-6545 and discusses methods to improve future tests by addressing observational challenges.

Findings

J1141-6545 offers stringent tests of strong-field gravity.

Current observations constrain tensor-scalar theories.

Future tests depend on mitigating timing instabilities.

Abstract

Pulsars in close binary systems have provided some of the most stringent tests of strong-field gravity to date. The pulsar--white-dwarf binary system J1141-6545 is specifically interesting due to its gravitational asymmetry which makes it one of the most powerful probes of tensor-scalar theories of gravity. We give an overview of current gravitational tests provided by the J1141-6545 binary system and comment on how anomalous accelerations, geodetic precession and timing instabilities may be prevented from limiting future tests of gravity to come from this system.