M101, Type Ia Supernova, and the Hubble Constant

SNe Ia are a well-known powerful distance indicator. Type Ia supernova (SN) 2011fe was discovered in the nearby spiral galaxy M101 in 2011. It was discovered in less than one day after its explosion and is one of the nearest SNe Ia. Therefore SN 2011fe plays a significant role for calibrating the luminosity of the SNe Ia as well as for studying the progenitors of SNe Ia. However, previous estimates of the distance to M101 based on various methods show a large range. We present a new determination of the distance to M101 using the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) method. We measure the distance from the F555W and F814W images of nine fields taken with the HST/ACS and HST/WFPC2 available in the HST archive. We derive a distance estimate with much smaller errors than previous studies. We discuss the implication of our results in relation with the calibration of optical and near-infrared maximum magnitudes of SNe Ia and the Hubble Constant.