Analysis of Determinations of the Distance between the Sun and the Galactic Center

TL;DR

This study analyzes 52 measurements of the Sun-Galactic center distance over 20 years to assess the influence of the bandwagon effect, finding no significant trend but a decrease in uncertainty over time.

Contribution

It provides an empirical assessment of potential publication bias in R0 measurements and demonstrates the absence of a systematic trend related to the bandwagon effect.

Findings

No significant trend indicating bandwagon effect in R0 data

Uncertainties in R0 measurements have decreased over time

Published R0 values are unlikely biased by the bandwagon effect

Abstract

The paper investigates the question of whether or not determinations of the distance between the Sun and the Galactic center R0 are affected by the so-called "bandwagon effect", leading to selection effects in published data that tend to be close to expected values, as was suggested by some authors. It is difficult to estimate numerically a systematic uncertainty in R0 due to the bandwagon effect; however, it is highly probable that, even if widely accepted values differ appreciably from the true value, the published results should eventually approach the true value despite the bandwagon effect. This should be manifest as a trend in the published R0 data: if this trend is statistically significant, the presence of the bandwagon effect can be suspected in the data. Fifty two determinations of R0 published over the last 20 years were analyzed. These data reveal no statistically significant trend, suggesting they are unlikely to involve any systematic uncertainty due to the bandwagon effect. At the same time, the published data show a gradual and statistically significant decrease in the uncertainties in the R0 determinations with time.