Determination of the Local Hubble Constant from Virgo Infall Using TRGB Distances

Abstract

An independent determination of H 0 is crucial given the growing tension between the Hubble constant, H 0 , derived locally and that determined from the modeling of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) originating in the early universe. In this work, we present a new determination of H 0 using velocities and tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) distances to 33 galaxies located between the Local Group and the Virgo cluster. We use a model of the infall pattern of the local Hubble flow modified by the Virgo mass, which is given as a function of the cosmological constants ( H 0 , Ω Λ ), the radius of the zero-velocity surface R 0 , and the intrinsic velocity dispersion, σ v . Fitting velocities and TRGB distances of 33 galaxies to the model, we obtain H 0  = 65.8 ± 3.5 (stat) ± 2.4 (sys) km s −1 Mpc −1  and R 0  = 6.76 ± 0.35 Mpc. Our local H 0 is consistent with the global H 0 determined from CMB radiation, showing no tension. In addition, we present new TRGB distances to NGC 4437 and NGC 4592, which are located near the zero-velocity surface: D  = 9.28 ± 0.39 Mpc and D  = 9.07 ± 0.27 Mpc, respectively. Their spatial separation is 0.29 Mpc, suggesting that they form a physical pair.