Cosmic distance scale: Methods for determining the distance to supernovae

Several methods of determining absolute distances to supernovae are analyzed. A kinematic method which appears superior to the kinematic method of Baade is developed and illustrated with the Type I supernova 1975a in NGC 2207. A dynamical method is developed which uses the recently discovered analytic solutions for Type I supernovae; initial results for several clusters of galaxies are: Virgo: D = 16 +- 2.2 Mpc, H0 = 68 +- 11 km s-1 Mpc-1; Coma: D = 100 +- 14 Mpc, H0 = 69 +- 12 km s-1 Mpc-1; Pegasus I: D = 52 +- 8 Mpc, H0 = 76 +- 11 km s-1 Mpc-1; and using Type I supernovae in elliptical galaxies, H0 = 69 +- 12 km s-1 Mpc-1. Possibilities for improvement are discussed. Requiring our paradigm to reproduce both ''fast'' and ''slow'' light curves implied a dispersion in intrinsic brightness of about the size actually observed in the Virgo and Coma clusters