Related papers: Cepheid metallicity and Hubble constant
Recent observations by the Hubble Space Telescope of Cepheids in the Virgo cluster imply a Hubble Constant $H_0=80\pm17$\ km/sec/Mpc. We attempt to clarify some issues of interpretation of these results for determining the global…
Context. The precise determination of the present-day expansion rate of the Universe, expressed through the Hubble constant $H_0$, is one of the most pressing challenges in modern cosmology. Assuming flat $\Lambda$CDM, $H_0$ inference at…
We compare infrared surface brightness fluctuation (IR SBF) distances measured in galaxies that have hosted type Ia supernovae (SNIa) to distances estimated from SNIa light curve fits. We show that the properties of SNIa found in IR SBF…
Separating the components of redshift due to expansion and peculiar motion in the nearby universe ($z<0.1$) is critical for using Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) to measure the Hubble constant ($H_0$) and the equation-of-state parameter of dark…
Measurements of the Hubble-Lema\^{i}tre constant ($H_0$) require us to estimate the distance and recession velocity of galaxies independently. Gravitational clustering that leads to the formation of galaxies and the large scale structure…
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…
We use parallax data from the Gaia second data release (GDR2), combined with parallax data based on Hipparcos and HST data, to derive the period-luminosity-metallicity (PLZ) relation for Galactic classical cepheids (CCs) in the V,K, and…
The possible time variation of the fundamental constants of nature has been an active subject of research in modern physics. In this paper, we propose a new method to investigate such possible time variation of the speed of light $c$ using…
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…
The theoretical evaluations of the Red Giant Branch Tip (TRGB) luminosity presented in Salaris & Cassisi (1997) are extended to higher metallicities, and compared with analogous independent results recently published. The comparison between…
The local expansion rate of the Universe is parametrized by the Hubble constant, $H_0$, the ratio between recession velocity and distance. Different techniques lead to inconsistent estimates of $H_0$. Observations of Type Ia supernovae…
We present a homogeneous metallicity analysis of old stellar populations in Local Volume (LV) galaxies using data from the CMDs/TRGB catalog of the Extragalactic Distance Database (EDD; http://edd.ifa.hawaii.edu), which provides uniformly…
The distance modulus of a galaxy determined from Cepheids differs from its distance modulus determined from Tully-Fisher by an amount that is proportional to the galaxy's line width, W: Delta mu ~ (-1.73\pm 0.46)log(W). While a…
We compare mid-infrared 3.6 and 4.5 $\mu$m Warm Spitzer observations for Cepheids in the Milky Way and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Using models, we explore in detail the effect of the CO rotation-vibration band-head at 4.6 $\mu$m…
The local distance ladder estimate of the Hubble constant ($H_0$) is important in cosmology, given the recent tension with the early universe inference. We estimate $H_0$ from the Type Ia supernova (SN~Ia) distance ladder, inferring SN~Ia…
The ratio of the first overtone (1O) / fundamental (F) periods of mixed-mode Cepheids that pulsate simultaneously in these two modes (F/1O) is metallicity-dependent. It can therefore be used to characterize the systems that host such…
We present WFPC2 VI photometry of a field in the halo of IC 1613, finding 13 RR Lyraes and 11 Cepheids. Our photometry of the red giant branch tip and red clump is used to derive distances to IC 1613, which are consistent with each other…
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…
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) fine guidance sensor observations were used to obtain parallaxes of eight metal-poor ([Fe/H] < -1.4) stars. The parallaxes of these stars determined by the revised Hipparcos reduction average 17% accuracy, in…
Presently a ${>}3\sigma$ tension exists between values of the Hubble constant $H_0$ derived from analysis of fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background by Planck, and local measurements of the expansion using calibrators of type Ia…