The Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program. VII. The Distance to M101 via the Optical Tip of the Red Giant Branch Method

Abstract

The Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program (CCHP) is building a direct path to the Hubble constant (H0) using Population II stars as the calibrator of the SN Ia-based distance scale. This path to calibrate the SN Ia is independent of the systematics in the traditional Cepheid-based technique. In this paper, we present the distance to M101, the host to SN2011fe, using the I-band tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) based on observations from the ACS/WFC instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. The CCHP targets the halo of M101 where there is little to no host-galaxy dust, the red giant branch is isolated from nearly all other stellar populations, and there is virtually no source confusion or crowding at the magnitude of the tip. Applying the standard procedure for the TRGB method from the other works in the CCHP series, we find a foreground-extinction-corrected M101 distance modulus of {μ_0}=29.07+/-0.04(stat)+/-0.05(sys) mag, which corresponds to a distance of D=6.52+/-0.12(stat)+/-0.15(sys) Mpc. This result is consistent with several recent Cepheid-based determinations, suggesting agreement between Population I and II distance scales for this nearby SN Ia-host galaxy. We further analyze four archival datasets for M101 that have targeted its outer disk to argue that targeting in the stellar halo provides much more reliable distance measurements from the TRGB method due to the combination of multiple structural components and heavily population contamination. Application of the TRGB in complex regions will have sources of uncertainty not accounted for in commonly used uncertainty measurement techniques.

arXiv comment30 Pages, 12 Figures, 4 Tables; Figure quality degraded for ArXiv posting; Accepted to ApJ. Note this version corrects an error regarding a previous study, which is indicated in the text

References in corpus (57)

• Maps of Dust IR Emission for Use in Estimation of Reddening and CMBR Foregrounds
• Measuring Reddening with SDSS Stellar Spectra and Recalibrating SFD
• Final Results from the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project to Measure the Hubble Constant
• A 2.4% Determination of the Local Value of the Hubble Constant
• Large Magellanic Cloud Cepheid Standards Provide a 1% Foundation for the Determination of the Hubble Constant and Stronger Evidence for Physics Beyond LambdaCDM
• A 3% Solution: Determination of the Hubble Constant with the Hubble Space Telescope and Wide Field Camera 3
• THINGS: The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey
• The Photometric Performance and Calibration of the HST Advanced Camera For Surveys
• WFPC2 Stellar Photometry with HSTphot
• The Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program. VIII. An Independent Determination of the Hubble Constant Based on the Tip of the Red Giant Branch
• The GALEX Ultraviolet Atlas of Nearby Galaxies
• Cosmicflows-2: The Data
• New Parallaxes of Galactic Cepheids from Spatially Scanning the Hubble Space Telescope: Implications for the Hubble Constant
• Supernova 2011fe from an Exploding Carbon-Oxygen White Dwarf Star
• Carnegie Hubble Program: A Mid-Infrared Calibration of the Hubble Constant
• The Hubble Constant
• Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distances. II. Zero-Point Calibration
• The HST Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale XIII. The Metallicity Dependence of the Cepheid Distance Scale
• The Charge Transfer Efficiency and Calibration of WFPC2
• The HST Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale XXVI. The Calibration of Population II Secondary Distance Indicators and the Value of the Hubble Constant
• The Extragalactic Distance Database: Color-Magnitude Diagrams
• The Effect of Metallicity on Cepheid-Based Distances
• Clustering of Local Group distances: publication bias or correlated measurements? I. The Large Magellanic Cloud
• Deviations from the Local Hubble Flow. I. The Tip of the Red Giant Branch as a Distance Indicator
• Cepheid Distances to SNe Ia Host Galaxies based on a Revised Photometric Zero-Point of the HST-WFPC2 and New P-L Relations and Metallicity Corrections
• A New Cepheid Distance to the Giant Spiral M101 Based On Image Subtraction of HST/ACS Observations
• Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distances. I. Optimization of a Maximum Likelihood Algorithm
• The Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program. I. An Independent Approach to the Extragalactic Distance Scale Using only Population II Distance Indicators
• The brightness of the Red Giant Branch tip: Theoretical framework, a set of reference models, and predicted observables
• The Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distances to Type Ia Supernova Host Galaxies. IV. Color Dependence and Zero-Point Calibration
• Old-Aged Stellar Population Distance Indicators
• Dust in the Circumgalactic Medium of Low-Redshift Galaxies
• NICMOS Observations of Extragalactic Cepheids. I. Photometry Database and a Test of the Standard Extinction Law
• Sharpening the Tip of the Red Giant Branch
• The Distance to M51
• Standard Galactic Field RR Lyrae. I. Optical to Mid-infrared Phased Photometry
• The Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program. II. The Distance to IC 1613: The Tip of the Red Giant Branch and RR Lyrae Period-Luminosity Relations
• Perfecting the Photometric Calibration of the ACS CCD Cameras
• A Robust Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distance to the Fireworks Galaxy (NGC 6946)
• Redshift-Independent Distances in the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database: Methodology, Content and Use of NED-D
• Metallicity-corrected Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distance to NGC 4258
• Whimper of a Bang: Documenting the Final Days of the Nearby Type Ia Supernova 2011fe
• The Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program. III. The Distance to NGC 1365 via the Tip of the Red Giant Branch
• A revised Cepheid distance to NGC 4258 and a test of the distance scale
• Using Surface Brightness Fluctuations to Study Nearby Satellite Galaxy Systems: Calibration and Methodology
• The Near-Infrared Tip of the Red Giant Branch. II. An Absolute Calibration in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• A Determination of the Hubble Constant from Cepheid Distances and a Model of the Local Peculiar Velocity Field
• The Near-Infrared Tip of the Red Giant Branch. I. A Calibration in the Isolated Dwarf Galaxy IC 1613
• Calibration of the distance scale from galactic Cepheids:II Use of the HIPPARCOS calibration
• The Distance to M101 Hosting Type Ia SN 2011fe Based on the Tip of the Red Giant Branch
• The Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program. V. The Distances to NGC 1448 and NGC 1316 via the Tip of the Red Giant Branch
• Using Surface Brightness Fluctuations to Study Nearby Satellite Galaxy Systems: the Complete Satellite System of M101
• The Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program. IV. The Distances to NGC 4424, NGC 4526, and NGC 4536 via the Tip of the Red Giant Branch
• The Carnegie Chicago Hubble Program VI: Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distances to M66 and M96 of the Leo I Group
• The Metallicity Dependence of the Cepheid P-L Relation in M101
• Uncertainties in The Interstellar Extinction Curve and the Cepheid Distance to M101
• Ground-based Discovery of Cepheids and Miras in M101

Cited by in corpus (29)

• Distances to PHANGS Galaxies: New Tip of the Red Giant Branch Measurements and Adopted Distances
• The Parallax of Omega Centauri Measured from Gaia EDR3 and a Direct, Geometric Calibration of the Tip of the Red Giant Branch and the Hubble Constant
• Comparing Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distance Scales: An Independent Reduction of the Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program and the Value of the Hubble Constant
• ELVES I: Structures of Dwarf Satellites of MW-like Galaxies; Morphology, Scaling Relations, and Intrinsic Shapes
• Symmetry of Cosmological Observables, and a High Hubble Constant as an Indicator of a Mirror World Dark Sector
• Luminosity Functions and Host-to-Host Scatter of Dwarf Satellite Systems in the Local Volume
• The Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program. IX. Calibration of the Tip of the Red Giant Branch Method in the Mega-Maser Host Galaxy, NGC4258 (M106)
• A Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distance to the Dark Matter Deficient Galaxy NGC1052-DF4 from Deep Hubble Space Telescope Data
• Radial Distributions of Dwarf Satellite Systems in the Local Volume
• The Satellite Luminosity Function of M101 into the Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxy Regime
• The Mira Distance to M101 and a 4% Measurement of H0
• The Carnegie Chicago Hubble Program X: Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distances to NGC 5643 and NGC 1404
• The Astrophysical Distance Scale III: Distance to the Local Group Galaxy WLM using Multi-Wavelength Observations of the Tip of the Red Giant Branch, Cepheids, and JAGB Stars
• Tracing the anemic stellar halo of M101
• On the separation between RR Lyrae and Type II Cepheids and their importance for distance determination: the case of $\omega$ Cen
• Quantifying Uncertainties on the Tip of the Red Giant Branch Method
• Comparative Analysis of TRGBs (CATs) from Unsupervised, Multi-Halo-Field Measurements: Contrast is Key
• The Whisper of a Whimper of a Bang: 2400 Days of the Type Ia SN 2011fe Reveals the Decay of ${}^{55}$Fe
• Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distances with JWST. II. I-band Measurements in a Sample of Hosts of 10 SN Ia Match HST Cepheids
• Hubble distancing: Focusing on distance measurements in cosmology
• Distances to Local Group Galaxies via Population II, Stellar Distance Indicators. II. The Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal
• Mathematical Underpinnings of the Multi-Wavelength Structure of the TRGB
• Coordinated JWST Imaging of Three Distance Indicators in a SN Host Galaxy and an Estimate of the TRGB Color Dependence
• Distances to Local Group Galaxies via Population II, Stellar Distance Indicators I: The Sculptor Dwarf Spheroidal
• One of Everything: The Breakthrough Listen Exotica Catalog
• The Chicago Carnegie Hubble Program: Improving the Calibration of SNe Ia with JWST Measurements of the Tip of the Red Giant Branch
• Leonessa: An Extremely Metal-poor Galaxy Undergoing Secular Chemical Evolution
• The Exploration of Local VolumE Satellites (ELVES) Survey: A Nearly Volume-Limited Sample of Nearby Dwarf Satellite Systems
• The Astrophysical Distance Scale: V. A 2% Distance to the Local Group Spiral M33 via the JAGB Method, Tip of the Red Giant Branch, and Leavitt Law