A New Method for the Determination of the Hubble Parameter

Abstract

By chance, the slope of the Mv(max) versus (B-V)max relation for recent theoretical models of supernovae of Type Ia (SNe Ia) by Hoflich & Khokhlov is indistinguishable from the slope of a reddening line in the V versus B-V plane. This coincidence allows one to determine a parameter Mv*(max) for SNe Ia that is independent of both supernova detonation model and of interstellar reddening. Calibrating Mv*(max) with observations of SNe Ia by Hamuy et al. yields values of the Hubble parameter Ho in the range 55 - 60 km s-1 Mpc-1 . The discrepancy between this result, and values of Ho recently obtained from observations of Cepheids in the Virgo cluster, suggests that either (1) the Cepheid distance scale is wrong, (2) the SN Ia models of Hoflich & Khokhlov are too bright by ~ 0.75 mag near maximum light, or (3) their models are too red by \~ 0.25 mag in B-V.

12 pages and 1 figure as uuencoded compressed Postscript. Also available at http://www.dao.nrc.ca/DAO/SCIENCE/science.html

Cited by in corpus (12)

• The High-Z Supernova Search: Measuring Cosmic Deceleration and Global Cur vature of the Universe Using Type Ia Supernovae
• K-corrections and Extinction Corrections for Type Ia Supernovae
• Type Ia Supernovae and the Hubble Constant
• Measuring Cosmology with Supernovae
• A Measurement of the Hubble Constant from the X-Ray Properties and the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect of CL0016+16
• Evidence for short-lived SN Ia progenitors
• Snapshot Distances to Type Ia Supernovae -- All in ``One'' Night's Work
• Nonlinear Decline-Rate Dependence and Intrinsic Variation of Type Ia Supernova Luminosities
• PELICAN: deeP architecturE for the LIght Curve ANalysis
• Anisotropic Observations in Universes with Nonlinear Inhomogeneity
• Improving the Calibration of Type Ia Supernovae Using Late-time Lightcurves
• Cosmological Parameters 2000