Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1998-01-08
Ann.Rev.Astron.Astrophys. 36 (1998) 17-55
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
46 pages. Hard copies of figures, all from the published literature, can be obtained from the author. With permission, from th
Scientific paper
10.1146/annurev.astro.36.1.17
The focus of this review is the work that has been done during the 1990s on using Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) to measure the Hubble constant ($H_0$). SNe Ia are well suited for measuring $H_0$. A straightforward maximum-light color criterion can weed out the minority of observed events that are either intrinsically subluminous or substantially extinguished by dust, leaving a majority subsample that has observational absolute-magnitude dispersions of less than $\sigma_{obs}(M_B) \simeq \sigma_{obs}(M_V) \simeq 0.3$ mag. Correlations between absolute magnitude and one or more distance-independent SN Ia or parent-galaxy observables can be used to further standardize the absolute magnitudes to better than 0.2 mag. The absolute magnitudes can be calibrated in two independent ways --- empirically, using Cepheid-based distances to parent galaxies of SNe Ia, and physically, by light curve and spectrum fitting. At present the empirical and physical calibrations are in agreement at $M_B \simeq M_V \simeq -19.4$ or -19.5. Various ways that have been used to match Cepheid-calibrated SNe Ia or physical models to SNe Ia that have been observed out in the Hubble flow have given values of $H_0$ distributed throughout the range 54 to 67 km/s Mpc$^{-1}$. Astronomers who want a consensus value of $H_0$ from SNe Ia with conservative errors could, for now, use $60 \pm 10$ km/s Mpc^{-1}$.
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