Shapiro Delay in the Double Pulsar: The Range Parameter as a Frame Test in a Nearly Edge-On Binary

This paper computes the Shapiro range parameter r for pulsar A in the double pulsar J0737-3039, timed through superior conjunction with pulsar B within a torsion-regulated gravitational frame — Einstein-Cartan gravity with the density bound that follows from its spin-torsion term — and compares the result with the best published measurement. The relativistic prediction is 6.152 microseconds; the published value is 6.21 plus or minus 0.08 microseconds, a residual of 0.05788 microseconds (0.7234 standard deviations). Because torsion in this framework is sourced only by spin density and does not propagate, the predicted deviation from general relativity is set by the square root of the ratio of the system density to the bound density, giving a fractional deviation of 8.487e-21 and a correction of 5.221e-20 microseconds. The measurement bounds any fractional deviation at 0.03541 (two standard deviations), so the framework passes this test with a headroom factor of 4.173e+18. Stated plainly, the test is consistent with the framework but cannot distinguish it from general relativity; the implied lower bound on the density scale, 5.581e+20 kilograms per cubic metre, lies far below the framework's bound of 9.718e+57 kilograms per cubic metre. The study is computed from stated assumptions and published data; it is simulated, not measured.