A measurement of the Hubble constant from the X-ray properties and the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect of CL 0016+16

A value of the Hubble constant has been determined from a comparison of the X-ray properties and Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect of the distant rich cluster of galaxies CL 0016 + 16. The cluster, as imaged by the ROSAT PSPC, is significantly elliptical, and we present the techniques we have developed to include this in our analysis. Assuming a smooth, isothermal gas distribution, we obtain a value H-0 = 47(-15)(+23) km s(-1) Mpc(-1), where the errors include systematic and random uncertainties but are purely observational. Systematic errors in deprojecting the elliptical surface brightness distribution due to prolate and oblate geometries as well as arbitrary inclination angles, introduce an additional fractional error of +/-17% in H-0. At the redshift of CL 0016 + 16 (z = 0.5455) the effect of the cosmological parameters on the derived H-0 value is of order 10%-20%; we quote results for q(0) = 0.1. Combining this result with X-ray/SZ effect H-0 determinations from seven other clusters and taking account of systematic uncertainties in our models for the cluster atmosphere, we find an ensemble value of H-0 = 42-61 km s(-1) Mpc(-1) with an additional random error of +/-16%.