The Tip of the Red Giant (TRGB) method provides one of the most accurate and precise means of measuring the distances to nearby galaxies. Here we present a VIJHK absolute calibration of the TRGB based on observations of TRGB stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC),grounded on detached eclipsing binaries (DEBs). This paper presents a more detailed description of the method first presented in Freedman et al. (2019) for measuring corrections for the total line-of-sight extinction and reddening to the LMC. In this method, we use a differential comparison of the red giant population in the LMC, first with red giants in the Local Group galaxy, IC 1613, and then with those in the Small Magellanic Cloud. As a consistency check, we derive an independent calibration of the TRGB sequence using the SMC alone, invoking its geometric distance also calibrated by DEBs. An additional consistency check comes from near-infrared observations of Galactic globular clusters covering a wide range of metallicities. In all cases we find excellent agreement in the zero-point calibration. We then examine the recent claims by Yuan et al. (2019), demonstrating that, in the case of the SMC, they corrected for extinction alone while neglecting the essential correction for reddening as well. In the case of IC 1613, we show that their analysis contains an incorrect treatment of (over-correction for) metallicity. Using our revised (and direct) measurement of the LMC TRGB extinction, we find a value of Ho = 69.6 +/-0.8 (+/-1.1% stat) +/- 1.7 (+/-2.4% sys) km/s/Mpc.
We present a calibration of the Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) on the HST/ACS F814W system. We use archival HST observations to derive blending corrections and photometric transformations for two ground-based wide-area imaging surveys of the Magellanic Clouds. We show that these surveys are biased bright by up to ~0.1 mag in the optical due to blending, and that the bias is a function of local stellar density. We correct the LMC TRGB magnitudes from Jang & Lee (2017) and use the geometric distance from Pietrzynski et al. (2019) to obtain an absolute TRGB…
The calibration of the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) in the $I$-band has a direct role in determinations of the Hubble constant, a subject of recent interest due to the discrepancy between direct and indirect estimates of its value. We present a maximum likelihood (ML) method designed to obtain an independent calibration of the brightness of TRGB using $Gaia$ parallaxes from the Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) of Milky Way field Giants at high Galactic latitude. We adopt simple parameterizations for the Milky Way stellar luminosity function and density law and and optimize the likelihood of t…
We present final results of a program for the determination of the Hubble constant based on the calibration of the Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) using the Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB). We report TRGB distances to three SN Ia host galaxies, NGC 3021, NGC 3370, and NGC 1309. We obtain F555W and F814W photometry of resolved stars from the archival Hubble Space Telescope data. Luminosity functions of red giant stars in the outer regions of these galaxies show the TRGB to be at I ~ QT = 28.2 ~ 28.5 mag. From these TRGB magnitudes and the revised TRGB calibration based on two distance anchors (N…
We present a revised TRGB calibration, accurate to 2.7% of distance. A modified TRGB magnitude corrected for the color dependence of the TRGB, the QT magnitude, is introduced for better measurement of the TRGB. We determine the color-magnitude relation of the TRGB from photometry of deep images of HST/ACS fields around eight nearby galaxies. The zero-point of the TRGB at the fiducial metallicity ([Fe/H]=-1.6 ((V-I)_{0,TRGB}=1.5)) is obtained from photometry of two distance anchors, NGC 4258 (M106) and the LMC, to which precise geometric distances are known: M_{QT,TRGB}=-4.023+-0.073 mag from N…
We present a new empirical \(JHK\) absolute calibration of the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We use published data from the extensive \emph{Near-Infrared Synoptic Survey} containing 3.5 million stars, of which 65,000 are red giants that fall within one magnitude of the TRGB. Adopting the TRGB slopes from a companion study of the isolated dwarf galaxy IC\,1613 as well as an LMC distance modulus of \(μ_0 = \)~18.49~mag from (geometric) detached eclipsing binaries, we derive absolute \(JHK\) zero-points for the near-infrared TRGB. For comparison with meas…
Population II Distance Indicators: RR Lyrae Variables, Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) Stars and J-Branch Asymptotic Giant Branch (JAGB/Carbon) Stars
In this paper, we extend the use of the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) method to near-infrared wavelengths from previously-used $I$-band, using the \textit{Hubble Space Telescope (HST)} Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Upon calibration of a color dependency of the TRGB magnitude, the IR TRGB yields a random uncertainty of $\sim 5%$ in relative distance. The IR TRGB methodology has an advantage over the previously-used ACS $F606W$ and $F814W$ filter set for galaxies that suffer from severe extinction. Using the IR TRGB methodology, we obtain distances toward three principal galaxies in the Maffe…
The tip of the red giant branch has been used to measure distances to 500 nearby galaxies with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) which are available in the Color-Magnitude Diagrams and Tip of the Red Giant Branch (CMDs/TRGB) catalog on the Extragalactic Distance Database (EDD). Our established methods are employed to perform an independent reduction of the targets presented by the Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program (CCHP) in the series of papers culminating in Freedman (2021). Our distinct methodology involves modeling the observed luminosity function of red giant branch and asymptotic giant branc…
The TRGB-SBF Project. IV. A Color Calibration of the TRGB in the JWST F090W+F150W Filters
Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences（俄罗斯科学院特别天文台）；Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii（夏威夷大学天体物理研究所）；Space Telescope Science Institute（太空望远镜科学研究所）；NSF’s NOIRLab（美国国家科学基金会NOIR实验室）；Utah Valley University（犹他谷大学）
We present a new and independent determination of the local value of the Hubble constant based on a calibration of the Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) applied to Type Ia supernovae (SNeIa). We find a value of Ho = 69.8 +/- 0.8 (+/-1.1\% stat) +/- 1.7 (+/-2.4\% sys) km/sec/Mpc. The TRGB method is both precise and accurate, and is parallel to, but independent of the Cepheid distance scale. Our value sits midway in the range defined by the current Hubble tension. It agrees at the 1.2-sigma level with that of the Planck 2018 estimate, and at the 1.7-sigma level with the SHoES measurement of Ho …
The tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) is a well-established standard candle used to measure distances to nearby galaxies. The TRGB luminosity is typically measured in the I-band, where the luminosity has little dependency on stellar age or stellar metallicity. As the TRGB is brighter at wavelengths redder than the I-band, observational gains can be made if the TRGB luminosity can be robustly calibrated at longer wavelengths. This is of particular interest given the infrared capabilities that will be available with the James Webb Space Telescope and an important calibration consideration for u…
We present a new method to measure colors and magnitudes of the tip of the red giant branch in multiple bandpasses simultaneously by fitting an n-dimensional Gaussian to photometry of candidate tip stars. We demonstrate that this method has several advantages over traditional edge detection, particularly in regimes where the TRGB magnitude is strongly color-dependent, as is the case in the near-infrared. We apply this method to a re-reduction of a set of optical and near-IR HST data originally presented in Dalcanton et al. (2012). The re-reduction takes advantage of the increased depth and acc…
IC 1613 is an isolated dwarf galaxy within the Local Group. Low foreground and internal extinction, low metallicity, and low crowding make it an invaluable testbed for the calibration of the local distance ladder. We present new, high-fidelity distance estimates to IC 1613 via its Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) and its RR Lyrae (RRL) variables as part of the Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program, which seeks an alternate local route to \ho using Population II stars. We have measured a TRGB magnitude I=20.35+/-0.01 (statistical)+/-0.01 (systematic) using wide-field observations obtained from the …
The local determination of the Hubble Constant sits at a crossroad. Current estimates of the local expansion rate of the Universe differ by about 1.7-sigma, derived from the Cepheid and TRGB based calibrations, applied to type Ia supernovae. To help elucidate possible sources of systematic error causing the tension, we show in this study the recently developed distance indicator, the J-region Asymptotic Giant Branch (JAGB) method (arXiv:2005.10792), can serve as an independent cross-check and comparison with other local distance indicators. Furthermore, we make the case that the JAGB method ha…
The Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program (CCHP) is undertaking a re-calibration of the extragalactic distance scale, using Type Ia supernovae that are tied to Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) distances to local galaxies. We present here deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) ACS/WFC imaging of the resolved stellar populations in the metal-poor halos of the SN Ia host galaxies NGC 4424, NGC 4526, and NGC 4536. These three Virgo constellation galaxies are prime targets for calibrating the extragalactic distance scale given their relative proximity in the local Universe and their low line-of-sight redden…
In the nearby galaxy NGC 4258, the well-modeled orbital motion of H$_2$O masers about its supermassive black hole provides the means to measure a precise geometric distance. As a result, NGC 4258 is one of a few "geometric anchors" available to calibrate the true luminosities of stellar distance indicators such as the Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) or the Cepheid Leavitt law. In this paper, we present a detailed study of the apparent magnitude of the TRGB within NGC 4258 using publicly-available HST observations optimally situated in the gas- and dust-free halo along the minor axis, spanni…
We use data from the ESA Gaia mission Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) to measure the trigonometric parallax of $ω$ Cen, the first high precision parallax measurement for the most massive globular cluster in the Milky Way. We use a combination of positional and high quality proper motion data from EDR3 to identify over 100,000 cluster members, of which 67,000 are in the magnitude and color range where EDR3 parallaxes are best calibrated. We find the estimated parallax to be robust, demonstrating good control of systematics within the color-magnitude diagram of the cluster. We find a parallax for th…
The luminosity of the Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) is instrumental for the construction of the distance ladder, and its accurate modelling is key for determining the local Hubble parameter. In this work, we present an extensive quantitative analysis of the TRGB luminosity, accounting for virtually all input physics that affect it: chemical composition, opacity, diffusion, nuclear reaction rates, electron screening, neutrinos, convection efficiency, boundary conditions and mass loss, amongst others. Our analysis is based on a newly produced grid of $\sim 3\times 10^6$ TRGB models, evolved…
Previous studies have shown that the large, diffuse galaxies NGC1052-DF2 and NGC1052-DF4 both have populations of unusually luminous globular clusters as well as a very low dark matter content. Here we present newly-obtained deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) imaging of one of these galaxies, NGC1052-DF4. We use these data to measure the distance of the galaxy from the location of the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB). We find a rapid increase in the number of detected stars fainter than $m_{F814W} \sim 27.3$, which we identify as the onset of the red giant br…
The large and diffuse galaxies NGC1052-DF2 and NGC1052-DF4 have been found to have very low dark matter content and a population of luminous globular clusters. Accurate distance measurements are key to interpreting these observations. Recently, the distance to NGC1052-DF4 was found to be $20.0\pm 1.6$ Mpc by identifying the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) in 12 orbits of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) imaging. Here we present 40 orbits of HST ACS data for NGC1052-DF2 and use these data to measure its TRGB. The TRGB is readily apparent in the color-magnitude d…
Indications from Gaia data release 2 (DR2) are that the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB, a population II standard candle related to the helium flash in low mass stars) is close to -4 in absolute I magnitude in the Cousins photometric system. Our sample is high latitude southern stars from the thick disk and inner halo, and our result is consistent with longstanding findings from globular clusters, whose distances were calibrated with RR Lyrae stars. As the Gaia mission proceeds, there is every reason to think an accurate Galactic geometric calibration of TRGB will be a significant outcome.
During the red giant phase, stars loose mass at the highest rate since birth. The mass-loss rate is not fixed, but varies from star-to-star by up to 5\%, resulting in variations of the star's luminosity at the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB). Also, most stars, during this phase, engulf part of their planetary system, including their gas giant planets and possibly brown dwarfs. Gas giant planet masses range between 0.1 to 2\% of the host star mass. The engulfing of their gas giants planets can modify their luminosity at the TRGB, i.e. the point at which the He-core degeneracy is removed. We …
The Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program seeks to anchor the distance scale of Type Ia supernovae via the Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB). Based on deep $Hubble$ $Space$ $Telescope$ ACS/WFC imaging, we present an analysis of the TRGB for the metal-poor halo of NGC 1365, a giant spiral galaxy in the Fornax Cluster that is host to the supernova SN2012fr. We have measured its extinction-corrected TRGB magnitude to be F814W $= 27.34 \pm 0.03_{stat} \pm0.01_{sys}$ mag. In advance of future direct calibration by $Gaia$, we set a provisional TRGB luminosity via the Large Magellanic Cloud and find a tru…
PHANGS-HST is an ultraviolet-optical imaging survey of 38 spiral galaxies within ~20 Mpc. Combined with the PHANGS-ALMA, PHANGS-MUSE surveys and other multiwavelength data, the dataset will provide an unprecedented look into the connections between young stars, HII regions, and cold molecular gas in these nearby star-forming galaxies. Accurate distances are needed to transform measured observables into physical parameters (e.g., brightness to luminosity, angular to physical sizes of molecular clouds, star clusters and associations). PHANGS-HST has obtained parallel ACS imaging of the galaxy ha…
The J-region asymptotic giant branch (JAGB) method is a new standard candle that is based on the stable intrinsic J-band magnitude of color-selected carbon stars, and has a precision comparable to other primary distance indicators such as Cepheids and the TRGB. We further test the accuracy of the JAGB method in the Local Group Galaxy M33. M33's moderate inclination, low metallicity, and nearby proximity make it an ideal laboratory for tests of systematics in local distance indicators. Using high-precision optical BVI and near-infrared JHK photometry, we explore the application of three indepen…
Using high precision ground-based photometry for 46 low-reddening Galactic globular clusters, in conjunction with Gaia DR2 proper motions for member star selection, we have calibrated the zero point of the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) method at two optical ($VI$) and three near-infrared ($JHK$) wavelengths. In doing so, we utilized the sharply-defined zero-age horizontal branch (ZAHB) of these clusters to relatively calibrate our cluster sample into a composite color-magnitude diagram spanning a wide range of metallicities, before setting the absolute zero point of this composite using t…
The brightness of the tip of the red-giant branch (TRGB) allows one to constrain novel energy losses that would lead to a larger core mass at helium ignition and thus to a brighter TRGB than expected by standard stellar models. The required absolute TRGB calibrations strongly improve with reliable geometric distances that have become available for the galaxy NGC 4258 that hosts a water megamaser and to the Large Magellanic Cloud based on 20 detached eclipsing binaries. Moreover, we revise a previous TRGB calibration in the globular cluster $ω$ Centauri with a recent kinematical distance determ…
Astrophysical Distance Scale VII: A Self-Consistent, Multi-Wavelength Calibration of the Slopes and Relative Zero Points for the Run of Luminosity with Color of Stars Defining the Tip of the Red Giant Branch
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 isolat…
We present a precise optical and near-infrared determination of the Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) brightness in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (respectively LMC and SMC). The commonly used calibrations of the absolute magnitude of the TRGB lead to an overestimation of the distance to the LMC and SMC in the K band, and an underestimation of the distance in the optical I band for both galaxies. Reported discrepancies are at the level of 0.2 mag, with respect to the very accurate distance determinations to both Clouds based on late-type eclipsing binaries. The differential distances b…
M74 (NGC 628) is a famous face-on spiral galaxy, hosting three core-collapse supernovae (SNe):SN Ic 2002ap, SN II-P 2003gd, and SN II-P 2013ej. However its distance is not well known. We present a distance estimation for this galaxy based on the Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) method. We obtain photometry of the resolved stars in the arm-free region of M74 from F555W and F814W images in the Hubble Space Telescope archive. The color-magnitude diagram of the resolved stars shows a dominant red giant branch (RGB) as well as blue main sequence stars, red helium burning stars, and asymptotic gia…
Tip of the red giant branch distances are acquired from Hubble Space Telescope images for 16 galaxies to the foreground of the Virgo Cluster. The new distances with 5% accuracy, combined with archival measurements, tightly constrain the near side location of the onset of infall into the Virgo Cluster to be 7.3+-0.3 Mpc from the cluster, reaching within 9 Mpc of the Milky Way. The mass within this turnaround radius about the cluster is 8.3+-0.9 x 10^{14} Msun. Color-magnitude diagrams are provided for galaxies in the study and there is brief discussion of their group affiliations.
We present the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) distances to Type Ia supernova (SNe Ia) host galaxies NGC 4038/39 and NGC 5584. Based on the deep images constructed using archival Hubble Space Telescope data, we detect red giant branch stars in each galaxy. VI photometry of the resolved stars and corresponding I-band luminosity functions show the TRGB to be at I_{TRGB} = 27.67 \pm 0.05 for NGC 4038/39 and I_{TRGB} = 27.77 \pm 0.04 for NGC 5584. From these estimates, we determine the distance modulus to NGC 4038/39 to be (m-M)_0 = 31.67 \pm 0.05 (random) \pm 0.12 (systematic) (corresponding t…
We present new empirical calibrations of the absolute magnitude of the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) in the optical I and near-infrared J, H, and K bands in terms of the (V-K)_0, (V-H)_0, and (J-K)_0 colors of the red giant branch. Our calibrations are based on the measurements in 19 fields in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, which span a wide (V-K)_0 color range of the brightest part of the red giant branch. We use a simple edge detection technique based on the comparison of the star count difference in two adjacent bins with the estimated Poisson noise. Further, we include the red…
In `A Bayesian Approach to Locating the Red Giant Branch Tip Magnitude (PART I),' a new technique was introduced for obtaining distances using the TRGB standard candle. Here we describe a useful complement to the technique with the potential to further reduce the uncertainty in our distance measurements by incorporating a matched-filter weighting scheme into the model likelihood calculations. In this scheme, stars are weighted according to their probability of being true object members. We then re-test our modified algorithm using random-realization artificial data to verify the validity of th…
The primary goal of the Carnegie Chicago Hubble Program (CCHP) is to calibrate the zero-point of the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) Hubble Diagram through the use of Population II standard candles. So far, the CCHP has measured direct distances to 11 SNe Ia, and here we increase that number to 15 with two new TRGB distances measured to NGC 5643 and NGC 1404, for a total of 20 SN Ia calibrators. We present resolved, point-source photometry from new Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging of these two galaxies in the F814W and F606W bandpasses. From each galaxy's stellar halo, we construct an F814W-band…
We determine the distances to the Type Ia Supernova host galaxies M66 (NGC 3627) and M96 (NGC 3368) of the Leo I Group using the Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) method. We target the stellar halos of these galaxies using the Hubble Space Telescope ACS/WFC in the F606W and F814W bandpasses. By pointing to the stellar halos we sample RGB stars predominantly of Population II, minimize host-galaxy reddening, and significantly reduce the effects of source crowding. Our absolute calibration of the I-band TRGB is based on a recent detached eclipsing binary distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud. W…
The Extragalactic Distance Database (EDD) was created as a repository for high quality, redshift-independent distances. A key component of EDD is the Color Magnitude Diagrams/Tip of the Red Giant Branch (CMDs/TRGB) catalog, which provides information on the stellar content of nearby galaxies observed with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Here we provide a decadal update to this catalog, which has now doubled in size to over 500 galaxies. We highlight the additions to our data reduction and analysis techniques, and provide examples of the science that has been made possible with this large dat…
We consider the application of the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) in the optical and in the near infrared for the determination of distances to nearby galaxies. We analyze ACS VI (F555W & F814W) data and self-consistently cross-calibrate WFC3-IR JH (F110W & F120W) data using and absolute magnitude calibration of M_I = -4.05 mag as determined in the LMC using detached eclipsing binary star geometric parallaxes. We demonstrate how the optical and near-infrared calibrations of the TRGB method are mathematically self-consistent, and illustrate the mathematical basis and relations amongst these…
The Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program (CCHP) is re-calibrating the extragalactic SN Ia distance scale using exclusively Population II stars. This effort focuses on the Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) method, whose systematics are entirely independent of the Population I Cepheid-based determinations that have long served as calibrators for the SN Ia distance scale. We present deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the low surface-density and low line-of-sight reddening halos of two galaxies, NGC 1448 and NGC 1316, each of which have been hosts to recent SN Ia events. Provisionally anchoring th…
Isochrone fitting of Galactic globular clusters - IX. Tip of the red-giant branch for 27 clusters and constraints on new particle physics
Central (Pulkovo) Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences（俄罗斯科学院中央（普尔科沃）天文台）；Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences（俄罗斯科学院核物理研究所）；Faculty of Physics, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University（莫斯科国立大学物理系）；Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russia Academy of Sciences（俄罗斯科学院应用天文学研究所）
Based on observations from the \emph{FourStar} near-infrared camera on the 6.5m Baade-Magellan telescope at Las Campanas, Chile, we present calibrations of the $JHK$ luminosities of stars defining the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) in the halo of the Local Group dwarf galaxy IC 1613. We employ metallicity-independent (rectified) T-band magnitudes---constructed using $J,H$ and $K$-band magnitudes and both $(J-H)~ \& ~(J-K)$ colors in order to flatten the upward-sloping red giant branch tips as otherwise seen in their apparent color-magnitude diagrams. We describe and quantify the advantages…
