skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: CATS: The Hubble Constant from Standardized TRGB and Type Ia Supernova Measurements
Abstract The tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) provides a luminous standard candle for constructing distance ladders to measure the Hubble constant. In practice, its measurements via edge-detection response (EDR) are complicated by the apparent fuzziness of the tip and the multipeak landscape of the EDR. Previously, we optimized an unsupervised algorithm, Comparative Analysis of TRGBs, to minimize the variance among multiple halo fields per host without relying on individualized choices, achieving state-of-the-art ∼<0.05 mag distance measures for optimal data. Here we apply this algorithm to an expanded sample of SN Ia hosts to standardize these to multiple fields in the geometric anchor, NGC 4258. In concert with the Pantheon+ SN Ia sample, this analysis produces a (baseline) result ofH0= 73.22 ± 2.06 km s−1Mpc−1. The largest difference inH0between this and similar studies employing the TRGB derives from corrections for SN survey differences and local flows used in the most recent SN Ia compilations that were absent in earlier studies. The SN-related differences total ∼2.0 km s−1Mpc−1. A smaller share, ∼1.4 km s−1Mpc−1, results from the inhomogeneity of the TRGB calibration across the distance ladder. We employ a grid of 108 variants around the optimal TRGB algorithm and find that the median of the variants is 72.94 ± 1.98 km s−1Mpc−1with an additional uncertainty due to algorithm choices of 0.83 km s−1Mpc−1. None of these TRGB variants result in anH0of less than 71.6 km s−1Mpc−1.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2108616
PAR ID:
10469631
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Date Published:
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume:
954
Issue:
1
ISSN:
2041-8205
Page Range / eLocation ID:
L31
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, The Astrophysical Journal)
    Abstract We cross-check the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Cepheid/Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) distance ladder, which yields the most precise localH0, against early James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) subsamples (∼1/4 of the HST sample) from SH0ES and CCHP, calibrated only with NGC 4258. We find HST Cepheid distances agree well (∼1σ) with all combinations of methods, samples, and telescopes. The comparisons explicitly include the measurement uncertainty of each method in NGC 4258, an oft-neglected but dominant term. Mean differences are ∼0.03 mag, far smaller than the 0.18 mag “Hubble tension.” Combining all measures produces the strongest constraint yet on the linearity of HST Cepheid distances, 0.994 ±0.010, ruling out distance-dependent bias or offset as the source of the tension at ∼7σ. However, current JWST subsamples produce large sampling differences in H0whose size and direction we can directly estimate from the full HST set. We show that ΔH0∼ 2.5 km s−1Mpc−1between the CCHP JWST program and the full HST sample is entirely consistent with differences in sample selection. We combine all JWST samples into a new distance-limited set of 16 SNe Ia atD≤ 25 Mpc. Using JWST Cepheids, JAGB, and tip of the red giant branch, we find 73.4 ± 2.1, 72.2 ± 2.2, and 72.1 ± 2.2 km s−1Mpc−1, respectively. Explicitly accounting for common supernovae, the three-method JWST result isH0= 72.6 ± 2.0, similar toH0= 72.8 expected from HST Cepheids in the same galaxies. The small JWST sample trivially lowers the Hubble tension significance due to small-sample statistics and is not yet competitive with the HST set (42 SNe Ia and 4 anchors), which yields 73.2 ± 0.9. Still, the joint JWST sample provides important cross-checks that the HST data pass. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, The Astrophysical Journal)
    Abstract The current Cepheid-calibrated distance ladder measurement of H 0 is reported to be in tension with the values inferred from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), assuming standard cosmology. However, some tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) estimates report H 0 in better agreement with the CMB. Hence, it is critical to reduce systematic uncertainties in local measurements to understand the Hubble tension. In this paper, we propose a uniform distance ladder between the second and third rungs, combining Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) observed by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) with a TRGB calibration of their absolute luminosity. A large, volume-limited sample of both calibrator and Hubble flow SNe Ia from the same survey minimizes two of the largest sources of systematics: host-galaxy bias and nonuniform photometric calibration. We present results from a pilot study using the existing TRGB distance to the host galaxy of ZTF SN Ia SN 2021rhu (aka ZTF21abiuvdk) in NGC7814. Combining the ZTF calibrator with a volume-limited sample from the first data release of ZTF Hubble flow SNe Ia, we infer H 0 = 76.94 ± 6.4 km s −1 Mpc −1 , an 8.3% measurement. The error budget is dominated by the single object calibrating the SN Ia luminosity in this pilot study. However, the ZTF sample includes already five other SNe Ia within ∼20 Mpc for which TRGB distances can be obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. Finally, we present the prospects of building this distance ladder out to 80 Mpc with James Webb Space Telescope observations of more than 100 ZTF SNe Ia. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; (, The Astrophysical Journal)
    Abstract We present a measurement of the Hubble constantH0from surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) distances for 63 bright, mainly early-type galaxies out to 100 Mpc observed with the WFC3/IR on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The sample is drawn from several independent HST imaging programs using the F110W bandpass, with the majority of the galaxies being selected from the MASSIVE survey. The distances reach the Hubble flow with a median statistical uncertainty per measurement of 4%. We construct the Hubble diagram with these IR SBF distances and constrainH0using four different treatments of the galaxy velocities. For the SBF zero-point calibration, we use both the existing tie to Cepheid variables, updated for consistency with the latest determination of the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud from detached eclipsing binaries, and a new tie to the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) calibrated from the maser distance to NGC 4258. These two SBF calibrations are consistent with each other and with theoretical predictions from stellar population models. From a weighted average of the Cepheid and TRGB calibrations, we deriveH0= 73.3 ± 0.7 ± 2.4 km s−1Mpc−1, where the error bars reflect the statistical and systematic uncertainties. This result accords well with recent measurements ofH0from Type Ia supernovae, time delays in multiply lensed quasars, and water masers. The systematic uncertainty could be reduced to below 2% by calibrating the SBF method with precision TRGB distances for a statistical sample of massive early-type galaxies out to the Virgo cluster measured with the James Webb Space Telescope. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, The Astrophysical Journal)
    Abstract The TRGB−SBF Project team is developing an independent distance ladder using a geometrical calibration of the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) method in elliptical galaxies that can, in turn, be used to set the surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) distance scale independent of Cepheid variables and Type Ia supernovae. The purpose of this project is to measure the local expansion rate of the Universe independently of the methods that are most at odds with the theoretically predicted value of the Hubble–Lemaître constantH0, and therefore isolate the influence of potential systematic observational errors. In this paper, we use JWST TRGB distances calibrated using the megamaser galaxy NGC 4258 to determine a new Cepheid-independent SBF zero-point with the Hubble Space Telescope. This new calibration, along with improved optical color measurements from Pan-STARRS and DECam, gives an updated value ofH0= 73.8 ± 0.7 (statistical) ±2.3 (systematic) km s−1Mpc−1that is virtually identical to the SBF Hubble–Lemaître constant measured by J. P. Blakeslee et al. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, The Astrophysical Journal Letters)
    Abstract The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) collaboration measured a tight relation between the Hubble constant (H0) and the distance to the Coma cluster using the fundamental plane (FP) relation of the deepest, most homogeneous sample of early-type galaxies. To determineH0, we measure the distance to Coma by several independent routes, each with its own geometric reference. We measure the most precise distance to Coma from 13 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in the cluster with a mean standardized brightness of m B 0 = 15.710 ± 0.040 mag. Calibrating the absolute magnitude of SNe Ia with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) distance ladder yieldsDComa = 98.5 ± 2.2 Mpc, consistent with its canonical value of 95–100 Mpc. This distance results inH0 = 76.5 ± 2.2 km s−1Mpc−1from the DESI FP relation. Inverting the DESI relation by calibrating it instead to the Planck+ΛCDM value ofH0 = 67.4 km s−1Mpc−1implies a much greater distance to Coma,DComa = 111.8 ± 1.8 Mpc, 4.6σbeyond a joint, direct measure. Independent of SNe Ia, the HST Key Project FP relation as calibrated by Cepheids, the tip of the red giant branch from JWST, or HST near-infrared surface brightness fluctuations all yieldDComa < 100 Mpc, in joint tension themselves with the Planck-calibrated route at >3σ. From a broad array of distance estimates compiled back to 1990, it is hard to see how Coma could be located as far as the Planck+ΛCDM expectation of >110 Mpc. By extending the Hubble diagram to Coma, a well-studied location in our own backyard whose distance was in good accord well before the Hubble tension, DESI indicates a more pervasive conflict between our knowledge of local distances and cosmological expectations. We expect future programs to refine the distance to Coma and nearer clusters to help illuminate this new local window on the Hubble tension. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email