Indications of a Fifth Force Coupling to Baryon Number in the Potter Test of the Weak Equivalence Principle

Abstract

We have reanalyzed data obtained by Potter in a 1923 experiment aimed at testing whether the accelerations of test masses in the Earth's gravitational field are independent of their compositions. Although Potter concludes that the accelerations of his samples compared to a brass standard were individually consistent with a null result, we show that the pattern formed from a combined plot of all of his data suggests the presence of a fifth force coupling to baryon number.

Comments: 9 pages, 5 figures