Einstein's theory of gravity passes toughest test yet

Einstein passes the test of spacetime!
The study of a bizarre binary star system nearly 7,000 light-years from Earth shows that Einstein's theory of general relativity holds true even when tested in the most extreme conditions, astronomers claim.
A newly-discovered pulsar - a spinning neutron star with twice the mass of the Sun - and its white-dwarf companion, orbiting each other once every two and a half hours, has put gravitational theories to the most extreme test yet.
At some point, scientists expect Albert Einstein's theory General Relativity, published in 1915, to be invalid under extreme conditions.
Physicists hope to find an alternate description of gravity that would eliminate that incompatibility.

Observations of the system, dubbed PSR J0348+0432, produced results consistent with the predictions of General Relativity, researchers said.

The tightly-orbiting pair was discovered with the National Science Foundation's Green Bank Telescope (GBT), and subsequently studied in visible light with different telescopes.
In such a system, the orbits decay and gravitational waves are emitted, carrying energy from the system. By very precisely measuring the time of arrival of the pulsar's radio pulses over a long period of time, astronomers can determine the rate of decay and the amount of gravitational radiation emitted.
The large mass of the neutron star in PSR J0348+0432, the closeness of its orbit with its companion, and the fact that the companion white dwarf is compact but not another neutron star, all make the system an unprecedented opportunity for testing alternative theories of gravity.

Under the extreme conditions of this system, some scientists thought that the equations of General Relativity might not accurately predict the amount of gravitational radiation emitted, and thus change the rate of orbital decay.
Competing gravitational theories, they thought, might prove more accurate in this system.
"We thought this system might be extreme enough to show a breakdown in General Relativity, but instead, Einstein's predictions held up quite well," said Paulo Freire, of the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy in Germany.
That's good news, the scientists say, for researchers hoping to make the first direct detection of gravitational waves with advanced instruments.

The study was published in the journal Science.