Measurements of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect in the Nearby Clusters A478, A2142 and A2256

This paper reports the measurement of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (SZE) in the nearby clusters A478, A2142 and A2256 at 32 GHz. These clusters are part of a complete X-ray flux limited sample, which includes the previously measured Coma cluster. We find surface baryonic mass densities for the hot IGM within the 7.35' FWHM Gaussian beam of the OVRO 5.5-m telescope projected on the cluster centers. This is used to place lower limits on the ratio of the SZE determined baryonic mass to the gravitational binding mass. When combined with available X-ray models, the data from these three clusters and Coma yields a sample average value for the Hubble constant of 54 +/- 14 km/s/Mpc.