Frequentist model comparison tests of sinusoidal variations in measurements of Newton's gravitational constant

Desai, Shantanu (2016) Frequentist model comparison tests of sinusoidal variations in measurements of Newton's gravitational constant. EPL, 115 (2). p. 20006. ISSN 0295-5075

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Abstract

In 2015, Anderson et al. (EPL, 110 (2015) 10002) have claimed to find evidence for periodic sinusoidal variations (period = 5.9 years) in measurements of Newton's gravitational constant. These claims have been disputed by Pitkin (EPL, 111 (2015) 30002). Using the Bayesian model comparison, he argues that a model with an unknown Gaussian noise component is favored over any periodic variations by more than e(30). We re-examine the claims of Anderson et al. using frequentist model comparison tests, both with and without errors in the measurement times. Our findings lend support to Pitkin's claim that a constant term along with an unknown systematic offset provides a better fit to the measurements of Newton's constant, compared to any sinusoidal variations.

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