A distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud that is precise to one per cent
  In the era of precision cosmology, it is essential to empirically determine
the Hubble constant with an accuracy of one per cent or better. At present, the
uncertainty on this constant is dominated by the uncertainty in the calibration
of the Cepheid period - luminosity relationship (also known as Leavitt Law).
The Large Magellanic Cloud has traditionally served as the best galaxy with
which to calibrate Cepheid period-luminosity relations, and as a result has
become the best anchor point for the cosmic distance scale. Eclipsing binary
systems composed of late-type stars offer the most precise and accurate way to
measure the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud. Currently the limit of the
precision attainable with this technique is about two per cent, and is set by
the precision of the existing calibrations of the surface brightness - colour
relation. Here we report the calibration of the surface brightness-colour
relation with a precision of 0.8 per cent. We use this calibration to determine
the geometrical distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud that is precise to 1 per
cent based on 20 eclipsing binary systems. The final distane is 49.59 +/- 0.09
(statistical) +/- 0.54 (systematic) kiloparsecs.
