The Uncertainty in Newton's Constant and Precision Predictions of the Primordial Helium Abundance

Abstract

The current uncertainty in Newton's constant, G_N, is of the order of 0.15%. For values of the baryon to photon ratio consistent with both cosmic microwave background observations and the primordial deuterium abundance, this uncertainty in G_N corresponds to an uncertainty in the primordial 4He mass fraction, Y_P, of +-1.3 x 10^{-4}. This uncertainty in Y_P is comparable to the effect from the current uncertainty in the neutron lifetime, which is often treated as the dominant uncertainty in calculations of Y_P. Recent measurements of G_N seem to be converging within a smaller range; a reduction in the estimated error on G_N by a factor of 10 would essentially eliminate it as a source of uncertainty in the calculation of the primordial 4He abundance.

3 pages, no figures, fixed typos, to appear in Phys. Rev. D

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Cited by in corpus (7)

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• Inhomogeneous Gravity
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• From Cavendish to PLANCK: Constraining Newton's Gravitational Constant with CMB Temperature and Polarization Anisotropy
• Testing Gravity on Cosmic Scales: A Case Study of Jordan-Brans-Dicke Theory
• Unifying cosmological and recent time variations of fundamental couplings
• Do Fermions and Bosons Produce the Same Gravitational Field?