Variance of Newtonian constant from local gravitational acceleration measurements

Abstract

We use IGETS absolute gravitational acceleration measurement data to study the gravitational acceleration variance. The relative variance of $\delta g /g$ in 22 years is less than $4\times 10^{-8}$. Since $\delta G /G\lessapprox\delta g /g $, this implies the relative variance of Newtonian constant is less than $3\times 10^{-9}$ based on an sine-like oscillation hypothesis. This limit is at least 4 orders of magnitude better than the existing $G$ measurements. The scattered values of reported $G$ measurements coming from different experiments are most probably coming from systematic errors associated with these experiments and not due to intrinsic time variation of $G$. We also find that $\dot{ G} /G<5.61\times 10^{-10} \text{yr}^{-1}$ based on a linear hypothesis. This is the best terrestrial result so far.