arXiv subjects

Louise Breuval

Publications and source records attributed to Louise Breuval.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Breaking the AGB Color Degeneracy with Variability and H$_2$O: A Consistent Picture of AGB Chemistry, Dust, and the J-Region Across Environments

Resolved asymptotic giant branch (AGB) populations present many observational puzzles. We consider three often treated separately: photometric C/O classification boundaries must be redrawn empirically in new environments; hydrostatic model grids are too blue in bands sampling H2O absorption; and J-region (JAGB) luminosities can differ between fields of a single galaxy. Pulsation connects them into a coherent picture. Using SPHEREx spectroscopy of AGB stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) with JWST/NIRCam photometry and HST time-series of the SN Ia host M101, placed on a common scale by synthetic photometry, we investigate how AGB variability, surface chemistry, and circumstellar dust depend on environment. We develop an F182M index sensitive to 1.9$μ$m H2O absorption that chemically classifies variable AGB stars and reveals oxygen-rich (O-rich) stars degenerate with carbon-rich (C-rich) stars in broadband colors. Because these features arise in extended atmospheric layers, hydrostatic grids struggle to reproduce them. Pulsation and circumstellar dust are asymmetrically linked: nearly all stars with substantial infrared excess are variable, while many variables show little dust. This supports mass loss initiated by pulsation and enhanced by dust formation. Variable O-rich AGB stars in M101 are up to ~0.7 mag redder than their LMC counterparts in dust-sensitive colors, consistent with more efficient silicate-dust production at higher metallicity, while C-rich populations depend less on environment. Color windows that select C-rich stars cleanly in the LMC are therefore 33-68% O-rich in the metal-rich M101. This challenges the J-region's universality as a standard candle while evading standard self-consistency checks. We recommend combining variability, or the infrared excess that implies it, with photometry of molecular features to improve AGB classification at 0.75-5.0$μ$m.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Interstellar extinction of classical Cepheids from neighboring stars I. Methodology and application to 16 Galactic Cepheids

Galactic Cepheid variable stars are fundamental calibrators of the cosmic distance scale through their Period-Luminosity (PL) relation. The high-precision parallaxes expected from Gaia Data Release 4 (DR4) will enable a calibration of the Milky Way PL relation with unprecedented precision. This will place stringent requirements on interstellar extinction corrections, which remain a dominant source of uncertainty. We strive to derive highly accurate extinction values for Galactic Cepheids. We present an innovative methodology relying on the analysis of neighboring field stars and apply it to a pilot sample of 16 Cepheids. We identify physically near field stars using Gaia DR3 astrometry. For these stars, we determine atmospheric parameters from medium- to high-resolution VLT/FLAMES spectroscopy. Fixing these parameters, we derive individual extinctions by fitting spectral energy distributions constructed from Gaia XP spectra and infrared photometry. We then reconstruct the three-dimensional distribution of extinction and interpolate extinction to the Cepheid position. We report extinction Av, total-to-selective extinction ratio Rv, and color excess E(B-V) for all 16 Cepheids. Our method achieves a mean precision of approximately 5%, improving upon typical literature values, with no significant systematic offset detected. We demonstrate that using field stars bypasses uncertainties associated with Cepheid variability and can provide robust extinction estimates for Galactic Cepheids.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

CHASE Spectral Survey I: Measuring Contamination in the Color-selected J-region Asymptotic Giant Branch Distance Indicator

The J-region asymptotic giant branch (JAGB) method for distance measurements uses the near uniform luminosity of carbon-rich AGB stars as a standard candle. Its application rests on an assumed but rarely examined premise: the stars contained in the JAGB color-magnitude selection box are primarily carbon-rich AGB stars. We investigate the purity of the photometric selection in the Milky Way with an optical spectroscopic survey (~3590-7150 $\mathring{A}$) called CHASE (Carbon stars, Hubble tension, And Spectroscopic Exploration of JAGB populations) using the Shane 3 m telescope at Lick Observatory. These stars are classified using molecular bandhead step indices, which recover 100% of known classifications. We report the observations of 76 stars (54 within the standard JAGB selection box of 1.5 < J - K < 2.0 mag) and find only 13 of 54 stars are carbon-rich, a 76$\pm$6 oxygen-rich contamination under blind photometric selection. This contamination remains high (71%) even within $\pm$0.4 mag of the JAGB peak itself, showing it is not confined to the edges of the selection box. This inhomogeneity may explain why recent literature find field-to-field and methodological variations of 0.1-0.2 mag that now dominate its systematic error budget. These variations could be caused, in part, by inhomogeneous stellar populations that consist of differing spectral types, and hence differing mean magnitudes.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

The effect of metallicity on the Leavitt Law using phase-dependent properties of classical Cepheids

The absolute calibration of period-luminosity (PL) relations of Cepheids in the Milky Way (MW) and its nearby galaxies has been a cornerstone in determining extragalactic distances and the current local expansion rate of the Universe. However, the universality of PL relations is still debated; particularly, the metallicity effect on the Cepheid PL relation. Due to the HIF-stellar photosphere interactions in Cepheids, different period-color (PC) relations at different phases can influence the corresponding PL relations at those phases.We have considered the PL relations at multiple pulsation phases as they capture the ensemble radiation hydrodynamic properties at those phases. We investigate the effect of metallicity on PL relations based on multiphase analysis of classical Cepheid light curves in the MW, Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). Multiphase metallicity coefficients $(γ)$ are derived in five different photometric bands ($V$, $I$, $G$, $G_{\rm BP}$, $G_{\rm RP}$) and two Wesenheit indices ($W_{VI}$, $W_{G}$). We show that the coefficients of multiphase period-luminosity-metallicity (PLZ) relations vary dynamically as functions of Cepheid pulsation phases over a complete pulsation cycle. We find significant differences in the $γ_λ$ values between the short- $(0.4 \leq \log{P} < 1)$ and long-period $(1 \leq \log{P} < 2)$ Cepheids at multiple phases, in two bands, $G_{\rm RP}$ and $W_{G}$. The weighted averages of the multiphase $γ_λ$ values are found to be in good agreement with the latest results published in the literature. Our methods and results provide new insights into the metallicity effect on the Leavitt law, which can be useful in constraining pulsation models. Additionally, this study shows that the metallicity effect on mean-light PL relations can be recovered from its phase-dependent nature found in this study.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2025

Converging on the Cepheid Metallicity Dependence: Implications of Non-Standard Gaia Parallax Recalibration on Distance Measures

By comparing Cepheid brightnesses with geometric distance measures including Gaia EDR3 parallaxes, most recent analyses conclude metal-rich Cepheids are brighter, quantified as $γ\sim -0.2$ mag/dex. While the value of $γ$ has little impact on the determination of the Hubble constant in contemporary distance ladders (due to the similarity of metallicity across these ladders), $γ$ plays a role in gauging the distances to metal-poor dwarf galaxies like the Magellanic Clouds and is of considerable interest in testing stellar models. Recently, Madore & Freedman (2025, hereafter MF25) recalibrated Gaia EDR3 parallaxes by adding to them a magnitude offset to match certain historic Cepheid parallaxes which otherwise differ by $\sim1.6σ$. A calibration which adjusts Gaia parallaxes by applying a magnitude offset (i.e., a multiplicative correction in parallax) differs significantly from the Gaia Team's calibration (Lindegren et al. 2021), which is additive in parallax space - especially at distances much closer than 1 kpc or beyond 10 kpc, outside the $\sim$2-3 kpc range on which the MF25 calibration was based. The MF25 approach reduces $γ$ to zero. If extrapolated, it places nearby cluster distances like the Pleiades too close compared to independent measurements, while leaving distant quasars with negative parallaxes. We conclude that the MF25 proposal for Gaia calibration and $γ\sim 0$ produces farther-reaching consequences, many of which are strongly disfavored by the data.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

The Local Distance Network: a community consensus report on the measurement of the Hubble constant at 1% precision

The direct, empirical determination of the local value of the Hubble constant (H0) has markedly advanced thanks to improved instrumentation, measurement techniques, and distance estimators. However, combining determinations from different estimators is non-trivial, due to correlated calibrations and different analysis methodologies. Using covariance weighting and leveraging the broad and comprehensive community of experts, we constructed a rigorous and transparent Distance Network (DN) to find a consensus value and uncertainty for the local H0. All critically reviewed the available data sets, spanning parallaxes, detached eclipsing binaries, masers, Cepheids, the TRGB, Miras, JAGB stars, SN Ia, Surface Brightness Fluctuations, SN II, the Fundamental Plane, and Tully-Fisher relations and voted for indicators to define a `baseline' DN and others to assess robustness and sensitivity of the results. We provide open-source software and data products to support full transparency and future extensions of this effort. Our conclusions: 1) Local H0 is robustly determined, with first-rank indicators internally consistent within their uncertainties; 2) A covariance-weighted combination yields an uncertainty of 1.1% (baseline) or 0.9% (all estimators); 3) The contribution from SNe Ia is consistent across four current compilations of optical magnitudes or using NIR-only magnitudes; 4) Removing either Cepheids or TRGB has minimal effect; 5) Replacing SNe Ia with galaxy-based indicators changes H0 by less than 0.1 km/s/Mpc, while doubling its uncertainty; 6) The baseline result is H0=73.50+/-0.81 km/s/Mpc. Compared to early Universe results, our result differs by 7.1sigma from flat ΛCDM with Planck+SPT+ACT and 5.0 sigma with BBN+BAO (DESI2). A networked approach is invaluable for enabling further progress in accuracy and precision without overreliance on any single method, sample or group.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

The Perfect Host: JWST Cepheid Observations in a Background-Free SN Ia Host Confirm No Bias in Hubble-Constant Measurements

Cycle 1 JWST observations of Cepheids in SN Ia hosts resolved their red-giant-dominated NIR backgrounds, sharply reducing crowding and showing that photometric bias in lower-resolution HST data does not account for the Hubble tension. We present Cycle 2 JWST observations of >100 Cepheids in NGC 3447, a unique system that pushes this test to the limit by transitioning from low to no background contamination. NGC 3447, an SN Ia host at D~25 Mpc, is an interacting pair comprising (i) a spiral with mixed stellar populations, typical of H0 calibrators, and (ii) a young, star-forming companion (NGC 3447A) devoid of old stars and hence stellar crowdinga rare "perfect host" for testing photometric bias. We detect ~60 long-period Cepheids in each, enabling a "three-way comparison" across HST, JWST, and background-free conditions. We find no component-to-component offset (sigma<0.03 mag; a calibration independent test), and a 50% reduction in scatter to ~0.12 mag in the background-free case, the tightest seen for any SN Ia host. Across Cycles 1-2 we also measure Cepheids in all SH0ES hosts observed by JWST (19 hosts of 24 SNe Ia; >50% of the sample) and find no evidence of bias relative to HST photometry, including for the most crowded, distant hosts. These observations constitute the most rigorous test yet of Cepheid distances and provide strong evidence for their reliability. Combining JWST Cepheid measurements in 19 hosts (24 SNe Ia) with HST data (37 hosts, 42 SNe Ia) yields H0 = 73.49 +/- 0.93 km/s/Mpc. Including 35 TRGB-based calibrations (from HST and JWST) totals 55 SNe Ia and gives H0 = 73.18 +/- 0.88 km/s/Mpc, ~6 sigma above the LambdaCDM+CMB expectation.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

The CosmoVerse White Paper: Addressing observational tensions in cosmology with systematics and fundamental physics

The standard model of cosmology has provided a good phenomenological description of a wide range of observations both at astrophysical and cosmological scales for several decades. This concordance model is constructed by a universal cosmological constant and supported by a matter sector described by the standard model of particle physics and a cold dark matter contribution, as well as very early-time inflationary physics, and underpinned by gravitation through general relativity. There have always been open questions about the soundness of the foundations of the standard model. However, recent years have shown that there may also be questions from the observational sector with the emergence of differences between certain cosmological probes. In this White Paper, we identify the key objectives that need to be addressed over the coming decade together with the core science projects that aim to meet these challenges. These discordances primarily rest on the divergence in the measurement of core cosmological parameters with varying levels of statistical confidence. These possible statistical tensions may be partially accounted for by systematics in various measurements or cosmological probes but there is also a growing indication of potential new physics beyond the standard model. After reviewing the principal probes used in the measurement of cosmological parameters, as well as potential systematics, we discuss the most promising array of potential new physics that may be observable in upcoming surveys. We also discuss the growing set of novel data analysis approaches that go beyond traditional methods to test physical models. [Abridged]

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

The stellar evolution perspective on the metallicity dependence of classical Cepheid Leavitt laws

The impact of metallicity on the Cepheid Leavitt law (LL) and, in turn, the Hubble constant, has been the subject of much recent debate. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of metallicity effects on Cepheid LLs based on synthetic Cepheid populations computed using Geneva models and the SYCLIST tool. We computed 296 co-eval populations in the age range of 5-300 Myr for metallicities representative of the Sun, the LMC, and the SMC ($Z \in [0.014, 0.006, 0.002]$). We computed LLs in fourteen optical-to-infrared passbands and five reddening-free Wesenheit magnitudes. All Cepheid populations take into account distributions of rotation rates and companion stars. We show excellent agreement between the predicted populations and key observational constraints from the literature. Our simulations predict a significant LL slope-metallicity dependence ($β_{\rm M} > 0$) that renders LLs steeper at lower metallicity at all wavelengths. Importantly, $β_{\rm M} \ne 0$ implies that the intercept-metallicity dependence, $α_{\rm M}$, depends on pivot period; an issue not previously considered. Comparison with $α_{\rm M}$ measurements in individual passbands reported in the literature yields acceptable agreement on the order of agreement found among different observational studies. The wavelength dependence and magnitude of the disagreement suggests a possible origin in reddening-related systematics. Conversely, we report excellent agreement between our $α_{\rm M} = -0.20 \pm 0.03$ mag dex$^{-1}$ and the value determined by the SH0ES distance ladder in the reddening-free H-band Wesenheit magnitude ($-0.217 \pm 0.046$), the currently tightest and conceptually simplest empirical constraint.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2025

The Legacy of Henrietta Leavitt: A Re-analysis of the First Cepheid Period-Luminosity Relation

Henrietta Swan Leavitt's discovery of the relationship between the period and luminosity (hereafter the Leavitt Law) of 25 variable stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud, published in 1912, revolutionized cosmology. These variables, eventually identified as Cepheids, became the first known "standard candles" for measuring extragalactic distances and remain the gold standard for this task today. Leavitt measured light curves, periods, and minimum and maximum magnitudes from painstaking visual inspection of photographic plates. Her work paved the way for the first precise series of distance measurements that helped set the scale of the Universe, and later the discovery of its expansion by Edwin Hubble in 1929. Here, we re-analyze Leavitt's first Period-Luminosity relation using observations of the same set of stars but with modern data and methods of Cepheid analysis. Using only data from Leavitt's notebooks, we assess the quality of her light curves, measured periods, and the slope and scatter of her Period-Luminosity relations. We show that modern data and methods, for the same objects, reduce the scatter of the Period-Luminosity relation by a factor of two. We also find a bias brightward at the short period end, due to the non-linearity of the plates and environmental crowding. Overall, Leavitt's results are in excellent agreement with contemporary measurements, reinforcing the value of Cepheids in cosmology today, a testament to the enduring quality of her work.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2024

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

The Hubble Tension, a >5 sigma discrepancy between direct and indirect measurements of the Hubble constant (H0), has persisted for a decade and motivated intense scrutiny of the paths used to infer H0. Comparing independently-derived distances for a set of galaxies with different standard candles, such as the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) and Cepheid variables, can test for systematics in the middle rung of the distance ladder. The I band is the preferred filter for measuring the TRGB due to constancy with color, a result of low sensitivity to population differences in age and metallicity supported by stellar models. We use James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations with the maser host NGC 4258 as our geometric anchor to measure I-band (F090W vs F090W-F150W) TRGB distances to 8 hosts of 10 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) within 28 Mpc: NGC 1448, NGC 1559, NGC 2525, NGC 3370, NGC 3447, NGC 5584, NGC 5643, and NGC 5861. We compare these with Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Cepheid-based relative distance moduli for the same galaxies and anchor. We find no evidence of a difference between their weighted means, 0.01 +/- 0.04 (stat) +/- 0.04 (sys) mag. We produce fourteen variants of the TRGB analysis, altering the smoothing level and color range used to measure the tips to explore their impact. For some hosts, this changes the identification of the strongest peak, but this causes little change to the sample mean difference producing a full range of 0.01 to 0.03 mag, all consistent at 1 sigma with no difference. The result matches past comparisons of I-band TRGB and Cepheids when both use HST. SNe and anchor samples observed with JWST are too small to yield a measure of H0 that is competitive with the HST sample of 42 SNe Ia and 4 anchors; however, they already provide a vital systematic crosscheck to HST measurements of the distance ladder.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

JWST Validates HST Distance Measurements: Selection of Supernova Subsample Explains Differences in JWST Estimates of Local H0

JWST provides new opportunities to cross-check the HST Cepheid/SNeIa distance ladder, which yields the most precise local measure of H0. We analyze early JWST subsamples (~1/4 of the HST sample) from the SH0ES and CCHP groups, calibrated by a single anchor (N4258). We find HST Cepheid distances agree well (~1 sigma) with all 8 combinations of methods, samples, and telescopes: JWST Cepheids, TRGB, and JAGB by either group, plus HST TRGB and Miras. The comparisons explicitly include the measurement uncertainty of each method in N4258, an oft-neglected but dominant term. Mean differences are ~0.03 mag, far smaller than the 0.18 mag "Hubble tension." Combining all measures produces the strongest constraint yet on the linearity of HST Cepheid distances, 0.994+-0.010, ruling out distance-dependent bias or offset as the source of the tension at ~7 sigma. Yet, measurements of H0 from current JWST subsamples produce large sampling differences whose size and direction we can directly estimate from the full HST set. We show that Delta(H0)~2.5 km/s/Mpc between the CCHP JWST program and the full HST sample is entirely consistent with differences in sample selection. Combining all JWST samples produces a new, distance-limited set of 16 SNeIa at D<25 Mpc and more closely resembles the full sample thanks to "reversion to the mean" of larger samples. Using JWST Cepheids, JAGB, and TRGB, we find 73.4+-2.1, 72.2+-2.2, and 72.1+-2.2 km/s/Mpc, respectively. Explicitly accounting for SNe in common, the combined-sample three-method result from JWST is H0=72.6+-2.0, similar to H0=72.8 expected from HST Cepheids in the same galaxies. The small JWST sample trivially lowers the Hubble tension significance due to small-sample statistics and is not yet competitive with the HST set (42 SNeIa and 4 anchors), which yields 73.2+-0.9. Still, the joint JWST sample provides important crosschecks which the HST data passes.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Small Magellanic Cloud Cepheids Observed with the Hubble Space Telescope Provide a New Anchor for the SH0ES Distance Ladder

We present phase-corrected photometric measurements of 88 Cepheid variables in the core of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), the first sample obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope's (HST) Wide Field Camera 3, in the same homogeneous photometric system as past measurements of all Cepheids on the SH0ES distance ladder. We limit the sample to the inner core and model the geometry to reduce errors in prior studies due to the nontrivial depth of this cloud. Without crowding present in ground-based studies, we obtain an unprecedentedly low dispersion of 0.102 mag for a period-luminosity (P-L) relation in the SMC, approaching the width of the Cepheid instability strip. The new geometric distance to 15 late-type detached eclipsing binaries in the SMC offers a rare opportunity to improve the foundation of the distance ladder, increasing the number of calibrating galaxies from three to four. With the SMC as the only anchor, we find H$_0\!=\!74.1 \pm 2.1$ km/s/Mpc. Combining these four geometric distances with our HST photometry of SMC Cepheids, we obtain H$_0\!=\!73.17 \pm 0.86$ km/s/Mpc. By including the SMC in the distance ladder, we also double the range where the metallicity ([Fe/H]) dependence of the Cepheid P-L relation can be calibrated, and we find $γ= -0.234 \pm 0.052$ mag/dex. Our local measurement of H$_0$ based on Cepheids and Type Ia supernovae shows a 5.8$σ$ tension with the value inferred from the cosmic microwave background assuming a Lambda cold dark matter ($Λ$CDM) cosmology, reinforcing the possibility of physics beyond $Λ$CDM.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distances with JWST: An Absolute Calibration in NGC 4258 and First Applications to Type Ia Supernova Hosts

The tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) allows for the measurement of precise and accurate distances to nearby galaxies, based on the brightest ascent of low-mass red giant branch stars before they undergo the helium flash. With the advent of JWST, there is great promise to utilize the technique to measure galaxy distances out to at least 50 Mpc, significantly further than HST's reach of 20 Mpc. However, with any standard candle, it is first necessary to provide an absolute reference. Here we use Cycle 1 data to provide an absolute calibration in the F090W filter. F090W is most similar to the F814W filter commonly used for TRGB measurements with HST, which had been adopted by the community due to minimal dependence from the underlying metallicities and ages of stars. The imaging we use was taken in the outskirts of NGC 4258, which has a direct geometrical distance measurement from the Keplerian motion of its water megamaser. Utilizing several measurement techniques, we find $M_{TRGB}^{F090W}$ = -4.362 $\pm$ 0.033 (stat) $\pm$ 0.045 (sys) mag (Vega) for the metal-poor TRGB. We also perform measurements of the TRGB in two Type Ia supernova hosts, NGC 1559, and NGC 5584. We find good agreement between our TRGB distances and previous distance determinations to these galaxies from Cepheids ($Δ$ = 0.01 $\pm$ 0.06 mag), with these differences being too small to explain the Hubble tension ($\sim$0.17 mag). As a final bonus, we showcase the serendipitous discovery of a faint dwarf galaxy near NGC 5584.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

The Local Value of H$_0$

We review the local determination of the Hubble constant, H$_0$, focusing on recent measurements of a distance ladder constructed from geometry, Cepheid variables and Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). We explain in some detail the components of the ladder: (1) geometry from Milky Way parallaxes, masers in NGC 4258 and detached eclipsing binaries in the Large Magellanic Cloud; (2) measurements of Cepheids with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in these anchors and in the hosts of 42 SNe Ia; and (3) SNe Ia in the Hubble flow. Great attention to negating systematic uncertainties through the use of differential measurements is reviewed. A wide array of tests are discussed. The measurements provide a strong indication of a discrepancy between the local measure of H$_0$ and its value predicted by $Λ$CDM theory, calibrated by the cosmic microwave background ($Planck$), a decade-long challenge known as the `Hubble Tension'. We present new measurements with the James Webb Space Telescope of $>$320 Cepheids on both rungs of the distance ladder, in a SN Ia host and the geometric calibrator NGC 4258, showing reduced noise and good agreement with the same as measured with HST. This provides strong evidence that systematic errors in HST Cepheid photometry do not play a significant role in the present Hubble Tension. Future measurements are expected to refine the local determination of the Hubble constant.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Reconnaissance with JWST of the J-region Asymptotic Giant Branch in Distance Ladder Galaxies: From Irregular Luminosity Functions to Approximation of the Hubble Constant

We study stars in the J-regions of the asymptotic giant branch (JAGB) of near-infrared color magnitude diagrams in the maser host NGC 4258 and 4 hosts of 6 Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia): NGC 1448, NGC 1559, NGC 5584, and NGC 5643. These clumps of stars are readily apparent near $1.0<F150W-F277W<1.5$ and $m_{F150W}$=22-25 mag with James Webb Space Telescope NIRCam photometry. Various methods have been proposed to assign an apparent reference magnitude for this recently proposed standard candle, including the mode, median, sigma-clipped mean or a modeled luminosity function parameter. We test the consistency of these by measuring intra-host variations, finding differences of up to $\sim$0.2 mag that significantly exceed statistical uncertainties. Brightness differences appear intrinsic, and are further amplified by the non-uniform shape of the JAGB luminosity function, also apparent in the LMC and SMC. We follow a 'many methods' approach to consistently measure JAGB magnitudes and distances to the SN Ia host sample calibrated by NGC 4258. We find broad agreement with distances measured from Cepheids, tip of the red giant branch (TRGB), and Miras. However, the SN host mean distance estimated via the JAGB method necessary to estimate $H_0$ differs by $\sim$0.19 mag amongst the above definitions, a result of different levels of luminosity function asymmetry. The methods yield a full range of $71-78$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$, i.e., a fiducial result of $H_0=74.7\pm2.1$ (stat) $\pm$2.3 (sys) ($\pm$3.1 if combined in quadrature) km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$, with systematic errors limited by the differences in methods. Future work may seek to further standardize and refine this promising tool, making it more competitive with established distance indicators.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

The Baade-Wesselink projection factor of RR Lyrae stars -- Calibration from OHP/SOPHIE spectroscopy and Gaia DR3 parallaxes

The application of the parallax of pulsation (PoP) technique to determine distances of pulsating stars implies the use of a scaling parameter, the projection factor (p-factor), required to transform disc-integrated radial velocities (RVs) into photospheric expansion velocities. The value of the p-factor is poorly known and debated. Most PoP applications assume a constant p-factor. However, it may actually depend on the physical parameters of each star. We aim to calibrate p-factors for RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) and compare them with classical Cepheids (CCs). Due to their higher surface gravity, RRLs have more compact atmospheres, and provide a valuable comparison with their supergiant siblings. We determined the p-factor of 17 RRLs using the SPIPS code, constrained by Gaia DR3 parallaxes, photometry, and new RVs from the OHP/SOPHIE spectrograph. We carefully examine the different steps of the PoP technique, particularly the method to determine RV from spectra using the classical cross-correlation function (CCF) approach. The method employed for RV extraction from the CCF has a strong impact on the p-factor, of up to 10%. However, this choice of method results in a global scaling of the p-factor, marginally affecting the scatter within the sample for a given method. Over our RRL sample, we find a mean value of $p = 1.248 \pm 0.022$ for RVs derived using a Gaussian fit of the CCF. There is no evidence for a different value of the p-factor of RRLs, although its distribution for RRLs appears significantly less scattered than that for CCs. The p-factor does not appear to depend in a simple way on fundamental stellar parameters. We argue that large-amplitude dynamical phenomena occurring in the atmospheres of RRLs and CCs during their pulsation affect the relative velocity of the spectral line-forming regions compared to the velocity of the photosphere.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2024

JWST Observations Reject Unrecognized Crowding of Cepheid Photometry as an Explanation for the Hubble Tension at 8 sigma Confidence

We present high-definition observations with the James Webb Space Telescope of >1000 Cepheids in a geometric anchor of the distance ladder, NGC4258, and in 5 hosts of 8 SNe~Ia, a far greater sample than previous studies with JWST. These galaxies individually contain the largest samples of Cepheids, an average of >150 each, producing the strongest statistical comparison to those previously measured with the Hubble Space Telescope in the NIR. They also span the distance range of those used to determine the Hubble constant with HST, allowing us to search for a distance-dependent bias in HST measurements. The superior resolution of JWST negates crowding noise, the largest source of variance in the NIR Cepheid Period-Luminosity relations (Leavitt laws) measured with HST. Together with the use of two-epochs to constrain Cepheid phases and three filters to remove reddening, we reduce the dispersion in the Cepheid PL relations by a factor of 2.5. We find no significant difference in the mean distance measurements determined from HST and JWST, with a formal difference of -0.01+/-0.03 mag. This result is independent of zeropoints and analysis variants including metallicity dependence, local crowding, choice of filters, and relation slope. We can reject the hypothesis of unrecognized crowding of Cepheid photometry from HST that grows with distance as the cause of the ``Hubble Tension'' at 8.2 sigma, i.e., greater confidence than that of the Hubble Tension itself. We conclude that errors in photometric measurements of Cepheids across the distance ladder do not significantly contribute to the Tension.

astro-ph.CO↗