Prospects for the Determination ofH0through Observation of Multiply Imaged Supernovae in Galaxy Cluster Fields

Abstract

We assess the possibility of determining the Hubble constant H0 by measuring time delays between multiple images of supernovae gravitationally lensed by rich clusters of galaxies and combining these delay measurements with detailed cluster potential models based on other lensing constraints. Such a lensing determination of H0 would be complementary to those obtained from galaxy-quasar lensing studies and could potentially be better calibrated. We show that relatively low-redshift (z ~ 0.2), significantly elliptical clusters have appreciable lensing cross sections for observable image pairings with tractable time delays on the order of a few years despite large lensing mass scales. We find that a targeted search for such image pairs would be a significant undertaking for current observatories but that it would be appropriate for a facility such as the proposed Large-Aperture Synoptic Survey Telescope.