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The Cepheid Extragalactic Distance Scale: Past, Present and Future

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2024

Wendy L. Freedman Open the ORCID record for Wendy L. Freedman [Opens in a new window]  and
Barry F. Madore
Wendy L. Freedman*
Affiliation:
Dept. of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, USA Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, 5640 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Barry F. Madore
Affiliation:
Dept. of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, USA Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara St., Pasadena CA 91101, USA
*
email: wfreedman@uchicago.edu
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Abstract

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Cepheids have been the cornerstone of the extragalactic distance scale for a century. With high-quality data, these luminous supergiants exhibit a small dispersion in their Leavitt (period–luminosity) relation, particularly at longer wavelengths, and few methods rival the precision possible with Cepheid distances. In these proceedings, we present an overview of major observational programs pertaining to the Cepheid extragalactic distance scale, its progress and remaining challenges. In addition, we present preliminary new results on Cepheids from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The launch of JWST has opened a new chapter in the measurement of extragalactic distances and the Hubble constant. JWST offers a resolution three times that of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) with nearly 10 times the sensitivity. It has been suggested that the discrepancy in the value of the Hubble constant based on Cepheids compared to that inferred from measurements of the cosmic microwave background requires new and additional physics beyond the standard cosmological model. JWST observations will be critical in reducing remaining systematics in the Cepheid measurements and for confirming if new physics is indeed required. Early JWST data for the galaxy, NGC 7250 show a decrease in scatter in the Cepheid Leavitt law by a factor of two relative to existing HST data and demonstrate that crowding/blending effects are a significant issue in a galaxy as close as 20 Mpc.

Keywords

CepheidsHSTJWSTExtragalactic Distance ScaleHubble constant
Type
Contributed Paper
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 18 , Symposium S376: At the crossroads of astrophysics and cosmology: Period–luminosity relations in the 2020s , December 2022 , pp. 1 - 14
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Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Astronomical Union

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