Paper
Gravitational Anomaly Measurement in Wide Binaries is Sensitive to Orbital Modeling
Authors
Serat M. Saad, Yuan-Sen Ting
Abstract
Recent work by Chae et al. (2026) reported a gravitational anomaly in 36 wide-binary pairs, finding a gravity boost factor of $γ\equiv G_{\rm eff}/G_{\rm N} \approx 1.60_{-0.14}^{+0.17}$ at low accelerations, consistent with predictions from Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). We reanalyze the same dataset using a hierarchical Bayesian model that infers a global $γ$ across all systems while fitting three-dimensional orbital elements. Our model yields $γ= 1.12^{+0.27}_{-0.22}$, consistent with Newtonian gravity ($γ= 1$) at the $\sim0.4σ$ level. To identify the source of the discrepancy, we perform a test using an approach similar to Chae et al. (2026), replacing the semi-major axis with a geometric de-projection of the observed projected separation. This test yields $γ= 1.56^{+0.21}_{-0.18}$, closely matching the result of Chae et al. (2026). This suggests that the inferred value of $γ$ is sensitive to how the three-dimensional orbital separation is modeled, and including an independent semi-major axis parameter can account for velocity excesses that would otherwise be attributed to non-Newtonian gravity.
Metadata
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Raw Data (Debug)
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"raw_xml": "<entry>\n <id>http://arxiv.org/abs/2603.11015v1</id>\n <title>Gravitational Anomaly Measurement in Wide Binaries is Sensitive to Orbital Modeling</title>\n <updated>2026-03-11T17:42:09Z</updated>\n <link href='https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.11015v1' rel='alternate' type='text/html'/>\n <link href='https://arxiv.org/pdf/2603.11015v1' rel='related' title='pdf' type='application/pdf'/>\n <summary>Recent work by Chae et al. (2026) reported a gravitational anomaly in 36 wide-binary pairs, finding a gravity boost factor of $γ\\equiv G_{\\rm eff}/G_{\\rm N} \\approx 1.60_{-0.14}^{+0.17}$ at low accelerations, consistent with predictions from Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). We reanalyze the same dataset using a hierarchical Bayesian model that infers a global $γ$ across all systems while fitting three-dimensional orbital elements. Our model yields $γ= 1.12^{+0.27}_{-0.22}$, consistent with Newtonian gravity ($γ= 1$) at the $\\sim0.4σ$ level. To identify the source of the discrepancy, we perform a test using an approach similar to Chae et al. (2026), replacing the semi-major axis with a geometric de-projection of the observed projected separation. This test yields $γ= 1.56^{+0.21}_{-0.18}$, closely matching the result of Chae et al. (2026). This suggests that the inferred value of $γ$ is sensitive to how the three-dimensional orbital separation is modeled, and including an independent semi-major axis parameter can account for velocity excesses that would otherwise be attributed to non-Newtonian gravity.</summary>\n <category scheme='http://arxiv.org/schemas/atom' term='astro-ph.SR'/>\n <category scheme='http://arxiv.org/schemas/atom' term='astro-ph.GA'/>\n <category scheme='http://arxiv.org/schemas/atom' term='astro-ph.IM'/>\n <published>2026-03-11T17:42:09Z</published>\n <arxiv:comment>10 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to OJAp</arxiv:comment>\n <arxiv:primary_category term='astro-ph.SR'/>\n <author>\n <name>Serat M. Saad</name>\n </author>\n <author>\n <name>Yuan-Sen Ting</name>\n </author>\n </entry>"
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