What does a 4.2$\sigma$ discrepancy mean? A brief remark on the statistics of the Muon g-2 Experiment

Oliver Passon

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arXiv · 2104.04404

What does a 4.2$\sigma$ discrepancy mean? A brief remark on the statistics of the Muon g-2 Experiment

Oliver Passon

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Abstract

On April 7, 2001 the Muon g-2 Experiment at Fermilab presented its first results which lead to a 4.2$\sigma$ discrepancy between the world average of the muon anomalous magnetic dipole moment and the standard model prediction of this quantity. I take issue with the statistical meaning of this finding.

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Oliver Passon. 2021-04-09. What does a 4.2$\sigma$ discrepancy mean? A brief remark on the statistics of the Muon g-2 Experiment. https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.04404

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