Einstein wins again

A team of researchers from 10 countries, including the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Chief Scientist Dr Fernando Camilo, has conducted a 16-year-long experiment to challenge Einstein’s theory of General Relativity with some of the most rigorous tests yet. Their study of a unique orbiting pair of extreme city-sized stars made up mostly of neutrons, so-called pulsars, involved seven radio telescopes across the globe and revealed new relativistic effects that have now been observed for the first time. Einstein’s theory, which was conceived when neither these types of stars nor the techniques used to study them could be imagined, agrees with the observations at a level of at least 99.99%. The results are published in the journal Physical Review X.

“These wonderful results show the value of patient long-term studies carried out with world-leading research facilities,” says Camilo. “Much remains to be learned about this remarkable natural laboratory,” he adds, “to which South Africa’s MeerKAT is now contributing with its observations of unsurpassed quality”.