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The Hubble Constant from Gravitational Lens Time Delays

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2005

Paul L. Schechter
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA email: schech@mit.edu Present address: Center for Space Research 37-664G, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
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Abstract

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Present day estimates of the Hubble constant based on Cepheids and on the cosmic microwave background radiation are uncertain by roughly 10% (on the conservative assumption that the universe may not be perfectly flat). Gravitational lens time delay measurements can produce estimates that are less uncertain, but only if a variety of major difficulties are overcome. These include a paucity of constraints on the lensing potential, the degeneracies associated with mass sheets and the central concentration of the lensing galaxy, multiple lenses, microlensing by stars, and the small variability amplitude typical of most quasars. To date only one lens meets all of these challenges. Several suffer only from the central concentration degeneracy, which may be lifted if one is willing to assume that systems with time delays are either like better constrained systems with non-variable sources, or alternatively, like nearby galaxies.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
© 2004 International Astronomical Union