GR Passes Double Pulsar Test

In a recent paper on testing GR with the 22.8ms double pulsar
J0737-3039 the authors assert that GR is consistent with the
observations to the 0.1% level. In fact they give the ratio
of the predicted and observed Shapiro delay parameter as:

prediction / observation = 1.0002 ( +0.0011 -0.0006 ).

Does anybody which, if any, of the competing hypotheses are
ruled out by this?

For your convenience here is the abstract:

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astro-ph/0503386:

Title: Testing GR with the Double Pulsar: Recent Results
Authors: M.Kramer, D.R.Lorimer, et al
Comments: Contribution to The 22nd Texas Symposium on Relativistic
Astrophysics, Stanford University, December 2004, 7 pages, 2 figures

This first ever double pulsar system consists of two pulsars orbiting
the common center of mass in a slightly eccentric orbit of only 2.4-hr
duration. The pair of pulsars with pulse periods of 22ms and 2.8 sec,
respectively, confirms the long-proposed recycling theory for millisecond
pulsars and provides an exciting opportunity to study the works of pulsar
magnetospheres by a very fortunate geometrical alignment of the orbit
relative to our line-of-sight. In particular, this binary system represents
a truly unique laboratory for relativistic gravitational physics. This
contribution serves as an update on the currently obtained results and their
consequences for the test of general relativity in the strong-field regime.
A complete and more up-to-date report of the timing results will be presented
else where shortly.
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Dark skies,

tom

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