A SHARP view of H0LiCOW: $H_{0}$ from three time-delay gravitational lens systems with adaptive optics imaging

Abstract

We present the measurement of the Hubble Constant, $H_0$, with three strong gravitational lens systems. We describe a blind analysis of both PG1115+080 and HE0435-1223 as well as an extension of our previous analysis of RXJ1131-1231. For each lens, we combine new adaptive optics (AO) imaging from the Keck Telescope, obtained as part of the SHARP AO effort, with Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging, velocity dispersion measurements, and a description of the line-of-sight mass distribution to build an accurate and precise lens mass model. This mass model is then combined with the COSMOGRAIL measured time delays in these systems to determine $H_{0}$. We do both an AO-only and an AO+HST analysis of the systems and find that AO and HST results are consistent. After unblinding, the AO-only analysis gives $H_{0}=82.8^{+9.4}_{-8.3}~\rm km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}$ for PG1115+080, $H_{0}=70.1^{+5.3}_{-4.5}~\rm km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}$ for HE0435-1223, and $H_{0}=77.0^{+4.0}_{-4.6}~\rm km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}$ for RXJ1131-1231. The joint AO-only result for the three lenses is $H_{0}=75.6^{+3.2}_{-3.3}~\rm km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}$. The joint result of the AO+HST analysis for the three lenses is $H_{0}=76.8^{+2.6}_{-2.6}~\rm km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}$. All of the above results assume a flat $\Lambda$ cold dark matter cosmology with a uniform prior on $\Omega_{\textrm{m}}$ in [0.05, 0.5] and $H_{0}$ in [0, 150] $\rm km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}$. This work is a collaboration of the SHARP and H0LiCOW teams, and shows that AO data can be used as the high-resolution imaging component in lens-based measurements of $H_0$. The full time-delay cosmography results from a total of six strongly lensed systems are presented in a companion paper.