On van den Bergh's Method for Measuring the Hubble Constant from Type Ia Supernovae

In a recent Letter, van den Bergh used the explosion-model light-curve calculations of Hoflich & Khokhlov to calibrate the Hamuy et al. sample of remote Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) and obtained low values of H0 in the range 55-60 km s-1 Mpc-1. Citing a higher value of H0 obtained from Cepheid-based distance determinations to a few galaxies in the Virgo Cluster complex, van den Bergh concluded that unless the Cepheid distance scale is wrong, the models of Hoflich & Khokhlov must be much too bright or much too red. Here we calibrate the same sample of remote SNe Ia in the same way as was suggested by van den Bergh, but now relying on Cepheid-based determinations of the distances to SN Ia parent galaxies instead of the explosion-model light-curve calculations. No corrections for extinction of the SNe Ia are required, and no SNe Ia need be excluded on grounds of peculiarity. We obtain H0 = 57 ± 5 km s-1 Mpc-1. Various subsamples of the data give H0 in the range 54-60 km s-1 Mpc-1. This shows that the fault lies not with the SN Ia models, nor with Cepheids, but with the hazardous route through the Virgo complex.

[1]  Nicholas B. Suntzeff,et al.  A Hubble diagram of distant type IA supernovae , 1993 .

[2]  D. Branch.  The Hubble Constant from Nickel Radioactivity in Type IA Supernovae , 1992 .

[3]  A. Saha,et al.  Discovery of Cepheids in IC 4182: Absolute peak brightness of SN IA 1937C and the value of H[SUB]0[/SUB] , 1994 .

[4]  A New method for the determination of the Hubble parameter , 1995, astro-ph/9509117.

[5]  A. Saha,et al.  The Cepheid distance to IC 4182 : calibration of MV(max) for SN Ia 1937C and the value of H0 , 1992 .

[6]  N. R. Tanvir,et al.  Determination of the Hubble constant from observations of Cepheid variables in the galaxy M96 , 1995, Nature.

[7]  A. Saha,et al.  Discovery of Cepheids in NGC 5253: Absolute peak brightness of SN Ia 1895B and SN Ia 1972E and the value of H(sub 0) , 1995 .

[8]  Allan Sandage,et al.  An Alternate Calculation of the Distance to M87 Using the Whitmore et al. Luminosity Function for Its Globular Clusters: H0 Therefrom , 1996 .

[9]  E. I. Robson,et al.  The Type IA Supernova 1989B in NGC 3627 (M66) , 1994 .

[10]  A. Saha,et al.  The Cepheid distance to NGC 5253: Calibration of M(max) for the type IA supernovae SN 1972E and SN 1895B , 1994 .

[11]  A. Saha,et al.  Cepheid Calibration of the Peak Brightness of Type Ia Supernovae. VI. SN 1960F in NGC 4496A , 1996 .

[12]  S. Perlmutter,et al.  The blue anbd visual absolute magnitude distributions of Type IA supernovae , 1995 .

[13]  P. Hoeflich,et al.  Explosion Models for Type IA Supernovae: A Comparison with Observed Light Curves, Distances, H 0, and Q 0 , 1996 .

[14]  P. Nugent,et al.  Spectrum synthesis of the Type Ia supernovae SN 1992A and SN 1981B , 1995 .

[15]  Alan Uomoto,et al.  THE TYPE IA SUPERNOVA 1986G IN NGC 5128 : OPTICAL PHOTOMETRY AND SPECTRA. , 1987 .

[16]  B. Schaefer.  The Peak Brightness of SN1937C in IC4182 and the Hubble Constant , 1993 .

[17]  R. Kirshner,et al.  Premaximum observations of the type Ia SN 1990N , 1991 .

[18]  D. Branch,et al.  Modeling and Interpretation of the Optical and HST UV Spectrum of SN 1993J , 1994 .

[19]  R. Kirshner,et al.  SN 1991T: Further Evidence of the Heterogeneous Nature of Type IA Supernovae , 1992 .

[20]  B. Schaefer.  The Peak Brightness of SN 1937C in IC 4182 and the Hubble Constant: Comments on Pierce & Jacoby [AJ, 110, 2885 (1995)] , 1996 .

[21]  A. Sandage,et al.  Cepheid Calibration of the Peak Brightness of Type Ia Supernovae: Calibration of SN 1990N in NGC 4639 Averaged with Six Earlier Type Ia Supernova Calibrations to Give H0 Directly , 1996 .

[22]  Erratum:``Low Hubble Constant from the Physics of Type Ia Supernovae'' [Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 394 (1995)] , 1995 .

[23]  Statistical Connections between the Properties of Type IA Supernovae and the B-V Colors of Their Parent Galaxies, and the Value of H 0 , 1995, astro-ph/9510071.

[24]  F. Macchetto,et al.  Science with the Hubble Space Telescope-II , 1996 .

[25]  G. Jacoby,et al.  "New" B and V Photometry of the "Old" Type IA Supernova SN 1937C: Implications for HO , 1995 .

[26]  R. Tully.  Nearby groups of galaxies. II - an all-sky survey within 3000 kilometers per second , 1987 .

[27]  M. Hamuy,et al.  SN 1992K - a twin to the subluminous type ia SN 1991bg , 1994 .

[28]  Garth D. Illingworth,et al.  Distance to the Virgo cluster galaxy M100 from Hubble Space Telescope observations of Cepheids , 1994, Nature.

[29]  Cepheid Calibration of the Peak Brightness of SNe Ia. , 1999, astro-ph/9904389.

[30]  R. Racine,et al.  The Hubble constant and Virgo cluster distance from observations of Cepheid variables , 1994, Nature.