CLASS B0218+357 and the Hubble Constant

Poster presented at the IAU symposium 225 "Impact of Gravitational Lensing on Cosmology" at the EPFL in Lausanne, 19-23 July 2004

T. York [1], N. Jackson [1], I.W.A. Browne [1], O. Wucknitz [2], J. Skelton [1]

  1. University of Manchester, Jodrell Bank Observatory
  2. Institute of Physics, University of Potsdam

Abstract

We present deep optical observations of the gravitational lens system CLASS B0218+357, from which we derive an estimate of the Hubble constant. Extensive radio observations have reduced the degeneracies between the Hubble constant and the mass model in this lens to one involving only the position of the radio-quiet lensing galaxy relative to the lensed images. B0218+357 has an image separation of only 334 mas, so optical observations have previously been unable to resolve the lens galaxy from the bright lensed images. Using the new Advanced Camera for Surveys installed on the Hubble Space Telescope, we have measured the separation between the lens galaxy centre and the brightest image. Consequently we find a value for the Hubble constant of 73+/-8 km/s /Mpc (68% confidence). This estimate is consistent with the local value obtained from the Hubble Key Project, and with the value from WMAP.

This poster summarizes our paper on the subject.
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