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  4. Crowded No More: The Accuracy of the Hubble Constant Tested with High-resolution Observations of Cepheids by JWST
 
research article

Crowded No More: The Accuracy of the Hubble Constant Tested with High-resolution Observations of Cepheids by JWST

Riess, Adam G.
•
Anand, Gagandeep S.
•
Yuan, Wenlong
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October 1, 2023
The Astrophysical Journal Letters

High-resolution James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations can test confusion-limited Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations for a photometric bias that could affect extragalactic Cepheids and the determination of the Hubble constant. We present JWST NIRCAM observations in two epochs and three filters of >320 Cepheids in NGC 4258 (which has a 1.5% maser-based geometric distance) and in NGC 5584 (host of SN Ia 2007af), near the median distance of the SH0ES HST SN Ia host sample and with the best leverage among them to detect such a bias. JWST provides far superior source separation from line-of-sight companions than HST in the near-infrared to largely negate confusion or crowding noise at these wavelengths, where extinction is minimal. The result is a remarkable >2.5x reduction in the dispersion of the Cepheid period-luminosity relations, from 0.45 to 0.17 mag, improving individual Cepheid precision from 20% to 7%. Two-epoch photometry confirmed identifications, tested JWST photometric stability, and constrained Cepheid phases. The P-L relation intercepts are in very good agreement, with differences (JWST-HST) of 0.00 +/- 0.03 and 0.02 +/- 0.03 mag for NGC 4258 and NGC 5584, respectively. The difference in the determination of H0 between HST and JWST from these intercepts is 0.02 +/- 0.04 mag, insensitive to JWST zero-points or count rate nonlinearity thanks to error cancellation between rungs. We explore a broad range of analysis variants (including passband combinations, phase corrections, measured detector offsets, and crowding levels) indicating robust baseline results. These observations provide the strongest evidence yet that systematic errors in HST Cepheid photometry do not play a significant role in the present Hubble Tension. Upcoming JWST observations of >12 SN Ia hosts should further refine the local measurement of the Hubble constant.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.3847/2041-8213/acf769
Web of Science ID

WOS:001086899200001

Author(s)
Riess, Adam G.
Anand, Gagandeep S.
Yuan, Wenlong
Casertano, Stefano
Dolphin, Andrew
Macri, Lucas M.
Breuval, Louise
Scolnic, Dan
Perrin, Marshall
Anderson, Richard Irving  
Date Issued

2023-10-01

Publisher

Iop Publishing Ltd

Published in
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume

956

Issue

1

Start page

L18

Subjects

Physical Sciences

•

Period-Luminosity Relations

•

Large-Magellanic-Cloud

•

Red Giant Branch

•

Space-Telescope

•

Distance Ladder

•

Local Value

•

Calibration

•

Photometry

•

Galaxies

•

Host

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
GR-ANDERSON  
FunderGrant Number

JWST

GO-1685

SNSF via an Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship

PCEFP2_194638

European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union

947660

Available on Infoscience
February 16, 2024
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/203905
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