In what sense a neutron star-black hole binary is the holy grail for testing gravity?

Abstract

Pulsars in binary systems have been very successful to test the validity of general relativity in the strong field regime. So far, such binaries include neutron star-white dwarf (NS-WD) and neutron star-neutron star (NS-NS) systems. It is commonly believed that a neutron star-black hole (NS-BH) binary will be much superior for this purpose. But in what sense is this true? Does it apply to all possible deviations?

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in JCAP. A shorter version received Honorable Mention in the 2014 Awards for Essays on Gravitation by the Gravity Research Foundation

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Neutron Star Physics in the Square Kilometer Array Era : An Indian Perspective
• Dynamical effects in the observed rate of change of the orbital and the spin periods of radio pulsars: Improvement in the method of estimation and its implications
• A study of the light bending phenomenon under full general relativity for a pulsar in a binary with a Schwarzschild black hole
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