Universality of free fall from the orbital motion of a pulsar in a stellar triple system

Einstein’s theory of gravity—the general theory of relativity 1 —is based on the universality of free fall, which specifies that all objects accelerate identically in an external gravitational field. In contrast to almost all alternative theories of gravity 2 , the strong equivalence principle of general relativity requires universality of free fall to apply even to bodies with strong self-gravity. Direct tests of this principle using Solar System bodies 3 , 4 are limited by the weak self-gravity of the bodies, and tests using pulsar–white-dwarf binaries 5 , 6 have been limited by the weak gravitational pull of the Milky Way. PSR J0337+1715 is a hierarchical system of three stars (a stellar triple system) in which a binary consisting of a millisecond radio pulsar and a white dwarf in a 1.6-day orbit is itself in a 327-day orbit with another white dwarf. This system permits a test that compares how the gravitational pull of the outer white dwarf affects the pulsar, which has strong self-gravity, and the inner white dwarf. Here we report that the accelerations of the pulsar and its nearby white-dwarf companion differ fractionally by no more than 2.6 × 10 −6 . For a rough comparison, our limit on the strong-field Nordtvedt parameter, which measures violation of the universality of free fall, is a factor of ten smaller than that obtained from (weak-field) Solar System tests 3 , 4 and a factor of almost a thousand smaller than that obtained from other strong-field tests 5 , 6 . The accelerations of a pulsar and a white dwarf in a three-star system differ by at most a few parts per million, providing a much improved constraint on the universality of free fall.