Bounding the mass of the graviton using binary pulsar observations

Sep, 2001
15 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.D 65 (2002) 044022
e-Print:

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Abstract: (arXiv)
The close agreement between the predictions of dynamical general relativity for the radiated power of a compact binary system and the observed orbital decay of the binary pulsars PSR B1913+16 and PSR B1534+12 allows us to bound the graviton mass to be less than 7.6 x 10^{-20} eV with 90% confidence. This bound is the first to be obtained from dynamic, as opposed to static-field, relativity. The resulting limit on the graviton mass is within two orders of magnitude of that from solar system measurements, and can be expected to improve with further observations.
  • 04.30.-w
  • 14.70.-e
  • 97.80.-d
  • 04.80.-y
  • graviton: mass
  • upper limit
  • pulsar: binary
  • pulsar: decay
  • general relativity
  • approximation: linear