Related papers: Cosmicflows-2: SNIa Calibration and H0
Because of flux conservation, flux-averaging {\it justifies} the use of the distance-redshift relation for a smooth universe in the analysis of type Ia supernova (SN Ia) data. We have combined the SN Ia data from the High-$z$ SN Search and…
We discuss the extent to which photometric measurements alone can be used to identify Type Ia supernovae (SNIa) and to determine redshift and other parameters of interest for cosmological studies. We fit the light curve data of the type…
The $L-\sigma$ relation of HII galaxies (HIIGx) calibrated by a distance indicator is a reliable standard candle for measuring the Hubble constant $H_0$. The most straightforward calibration technique anchors them with the first tier of…
Considerable progress has been made in determining the Hubble constant over the past two decades. We discuss the cosmological context and importance of an accurate measurement of the Hubble constant, and focus on six high-precision…
Since the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope nine years ago, Cepheid distances to 25 galaxies have been determined for the purpose of calibrating secondary distance indicators. A variety of these can now be calibrated, and the…
We develop a novel approach to constrain the Hubble parameter $H_0$ and the primordial power spectrum amplitude $A_\mathrm{s}$ using type Ia supernovae (SNIa) data. By considering SNIa as tracers of the peculiar velocity field, we can model…
We report on the first determination of the distance to the Coma Cluster based on surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) measurements obtained from Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 observations of the bright E0 galaxy NGC 4881 in the Coma Cluster…
The surface brightness fluctuations (SBF) method measures the variance in a galaxy's light distribution arising from fluctuations in the numbers and luminosities of individual stars per resolution element. Once calibrated for stellar…
With this paper we continue the preparation for a forthcoming summary report of our experiment with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to determine the Hubble constant using type Ia supernovae as standard candles. Two problems are addressed.…
We present IR surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) distance measurements to NGC 4889 in the Coma cluster and to NGC 3309 and NGC 3311 in the Hydra cluster. We explicitly corrected for the contributions to the fluctuations from globular…
We review the local determination of the Hubble constant, H$_0$, focusing on recent measurements of a distance ladder constructed from geometry, Cepheid variables and Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). We explain in some detail the components of…
We present measurements of the Hubble diagram for 103 Type Ia supernovae (SNe) with redshifts 0.04 < z < 0.42, discovered during the first season (Fall 2005) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II (SDSS-II) Supernova Survey. These data fill in…
We determine the distances to 18 galaxy clusters with redshifts ranging from z~0.14 to z~0.78 from a maximum likelihood joint analysis of 30 GHz interferometric Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) and X-ray observations. We model the…
Context. Our Local Group of galaxies appears to be moving relative to the cosmic microwave background with the source of the peculiar motion still uncertain. While in the past this has been studied mostly using galaxies as distance…
The similarity of the absolute luminosity profiles of Type Ia supernovae (SNIe), as one kind of distance indicator, has led their use in extragalactic astronomy as secondary standard candles. In general, the empirical relationship of SNIa…
We measured high-quality surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) distances for a sample of 63 massive early-type galaxies using the WFC3/IR camera on the Hubble Space Telescope. The median uncertainty on the SBF distance measurements is 0.085…
Using a mid-infrared calibration of the Cepheid distance scale based on recent observations at 3.6 um with the Spitzer Space Telescope, we have obtained a new, high-accuracy calibration of the Hubble constant. We have established the mid-IR…
Physical models of Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) that do not depend on secondary calibrators have indicated that the Hubble Constant must be about 65 km/s/Mpc for well over a decade with the range of uncertainty shrinking with the…
The local (v<1200kms) and the cosmic expansion field out to 30000kms-1 are characterized by Ho=58. While the random error is small (+-2), it may still be affected by systematic errors as large as 10%. The local expansion is outlined by…
Recently collected SNIa data have been used to address the problem of measuring the cosmological parameters of the universe. Analysed in the framework of homogeneous models, they have yielded, as a primary result, a strictly positive…