Cluster Cepheids with High Precision Gaia Parallaxes, Low Zero-point Uncertainties, and Hubble Space Telescope Photometry

We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) photometry of 17 Cepheids in open clusters and their cluster mean parallaxes from Gaia EDR3. These parallaxes are more precise than those from individual Cepheids (G < 8 mag) previously used to measure the Hubble constant because they are derived from an average of >300 stars per cluster. Cluster parallaxes also have smaller systematic uncertainty because their stars lie in the range (G> 13 mag) where the Gaia parallax calibration is the most comprehensive. Cepheid photometry employed in the period-luminosity relation was measured using the same HST instrument (WFC3) and filters (F555W, F814W, F160W) as extragalactic Cepheids in Type Ia supernova hosts. We find no evidence of residual parallax offset in this magnitude range, zp = -3 +/- 4 mu as, consistent with the results from Lindegren et al. and most studies. The Cepheid luminosity (at P = 10 d and solar metallicity) in the HST near-infrared, Wesenheit magnitude system derived from the cluster sample is M-H,1(W) = -5.902 +/- 0.025 mag and -5.890 +/- 0.018 mag with or without simultaneous determination of a parallax offset, respectively. These results are similar to measurements from field Cepheids, confirming the accuracy of the Gaia parallaxes over a broad range of magnitudes. The SHOES distance ladder calibrated only from this sample gives H-0 = 72.9 +/- 1.3 and H-0 = 73.3 +/- 1.1 km s(-1) Mpc(-1) with or without offset marginalization; combined with all other anchors we find H-0 = 73.01 +/- 0.99 and 73.15 +/- 0.97 km s(-1) Mpc(-1) , respectively, a 5% or 7% reduction in the uncertainty in H-0 and a similar to 5.3 sigma Hubble tension relative to Planck +ACDM. It appears increasingly difficult to reconcile two of the best-measured cosmic scales, parallaxes from Gaia and the angular size of the acoustic scale of the cosmic microwave background, using the simplest form of ACDM to connect the two.

Automated summary

This study presents measurements of the photometry and mean parallax of 17 Cepheids using data from Gaia and the Hubble Space Telescope. The results demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of these measurements in determining the Hubble constant and provide a possible solution to the Hubble tension. The study also highlights the importance of combining different measurement techniques to reduce uncertainties and improve our understanding of the universe.