Asteroseismology, standard candles and the Hubble Constant: what is the role of asteroseismology in the era of precision cosmology?

Abstract

Classical Cepheids form one of the foundations of modern cosmology and the extragalactic distance scale, however, cosmic microwave background observations measure cosmological parameters and indirectly the Hubble Constant, H0, to unparalleled precision. The coming decade will provide opportunities to measure H0 to 2% uncertainty thanks to the GAIA satellite, JWST, ELTs and other telescopes using Cepheids and other standard candles. In this work, we discuss the upcoming role for variable stars and asteroseismology in calibrating the distance scale and measuring H0 and what problems exist in understanding these stars that will feedback on these measurements.

8 pages, summary of splinter session at IAU Symposium 301, Precision Asteroseismology, August 2013, Wroclaw, Poland