A Massive Pulsar in a Compact Relativistic Binary. (arXiv:1304.6875v1 [astro-ph.HE])

A Massive Pulsar in a Compact Relativistic Binary. (arXiv:1304.6875v1 [astro-ph.HE]):
Many physically motivated extensions to general relativity (GR) predict
significant deviations in the properties of spacetime surrounding massive
neutron stars. We report the measurement of a 2.01 +/- 0.04 solar mass pulsar
in a 2.46-hr orbit with a 0.172 +/- 0.003 solar mass white dwarf. The high
pulsar mass and the compact orbit make this system a sensitive laboratory of a
previously untested strong-field gravity regime. Thus far, the observed orbital
decay agrees with GR, supporting its validity even for the extreme conditions
present in the system. The resulting constraints on deviations support the use
of GR-based templates for ground-based gravitational wave detectors.
Additionally, the system strengthens recent constraints on the properties of
dense matter and provides insight to binary stellar astrophysics and pulsar
recycling.