Browsing by Subject "variable-stars"
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Item Calibrating The Cepheid Period-Luminosity Relation From The Infrared Surface Brightness Technique II. The Effect Of Metallicity And The Distance To The LMC(2011-10) Storm, Jesper; Gieren, Wolfgang; Fouque, Pascal; Barnes, Thomas G.; Soszynski, I.; Pietrzynski, G.; Nardetto, Nicolas; Queloz, D.; Barnes, Thomas G.; Nicolas NardettoContext. The extragalactic distance scale builds directly on the Cepheid period-luminosity (PL) relation as delineated by the sample of Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). However, the LMC is a dwarf irregular galaxy, quite different from the massive spiral galaxies used for calibrating the extragalactic distance scale. Recent investigations suggest that not only the zero-point but also the slope of the Milky Way PL relation differ significantly from that of the LMC, casting doubts on the universality of the Cepheid PL relation. Aims. We want to make a differential comparison of the PL relations in the two galaxies by delineating the PL relations using the same method, the infrared surface brightness method (IRSB), and the same precepts. We furthermore extend the metallicity baseline for investigating the zero-point dependence, by applying the method to five SMC Cepheids as well. Methods. The IRSB method is a Baade-Wesselink type method to determine individual distances to Cepheids. We apply a newly revised calibration of the method as described in an accompanying paper (Paper I) to 36 LMC and five SMC Cepheids and delineate new PL relations in the V, I, J, & K bands as well as in the Wesenheit indices in the optical and near-IR. Results. We present 509 new and accurate radial velocity measurements for a sample of 22 LMC Cepheids, enlarging our earlier sample of 14 stars to include 36 LMC Cepheids. The new calibration of the IRSB method is directly tied to the recent HST parallax measurements to ten MilkyWay Cepheids, and we find a LMC barycenter distance modulus of 18.45 +/- 0.04 (random error only) from the 36 individual LMC Cepheid distances. In the J, K bands we find identical slopes for the LMC and Milky Way PL relations and only a weak letallicity effect on the zero points (consistent with a zero effect), metal poor stars being fainter. In the optical we find the Milky Way slopes are slightly shallower than the LMC slopes (but again consistent with no difference in the slopes) and small effects on the zero points. However, the important Wesenheit index in V, (V - I) shows a metallicity effect on the slope and on the zero point which is likely to be significant. Conclusions. We find a significant metallicity effect on the W-VI index gamma(W-VI) = -0.23 +/- 0.10 mag dex(-1) as well as an effect on the slope. The K-band PL relation on the other hand is found to be an excellent extragalactic standard candle being metallicity insensitive in both slope and zero-point and at the same time being reddening insensitive and showing the least internal dispersion.Item Distance Scale Zero Points From Galactic RR Lyrae Star Parallaxes(2011-12) Benedict, G. Fritz; McArthur, Barbara E.; Feast, Michael W.; Barnes, Thomas G.; Harrison, Thomas E.; Bean, Jacob L.; Menzies, John W.; Chaboyer, Brian; Fossati, Luca; Nesvacil, Nicole; Smith, Horace A.; Kolenberg, Katrien; Laney, C. D.; Kochukhov, Oleg; Nelan, Edmund P.; Shulyak, D. V.; Taylor, Denise; Freedman, Wendy L.; Benedict, G. Fritz; McArthur, Barbara E.; Barnes, Thomas G.We present new absolute trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions for seven Population II variable stars-five RR Lyr variables: RZ Cep, XZ Cyg, SU Dra, RR Lyr, and UV Oct; and two type 2 Cepheids: VY Pyx and kappa Pav. We obtained these results with astrometric data from Fine Guidance Sensors, white-light interferometers on Hubble Space Telescope. We find absolute parallaxes in milliseconds of arc: RZ Cep, 2.12 +/- 0.16 mas; XZ Cyg, 1.67 +/- 0.17 mas; SU Dra, 1.42 +/- 0.16 mas; RR Lyr, 3.77 +/- 0.13 mas; UV Oct, 1.71 +/- 0.10 mas; VY Pyx, 6.44 +/- 0.23 mas; and. Pav, 5.57 +/- 0.28 mas; an average sigma(pi)/pi = 5.4%. With these parallaxes, we compute absolute magnitudes in V and K bandpasses corrected for interstellar extinction and Lutz-Kelker-Hanson bias. Using these RR Lyrae variable star absolute magnitudes, we then derive zero points for M-V-[Fe/H] and M-K-[Fe/H]-log P relations. The technique of reduced parallaxes corroborates these results. We employ our new results to determine distances and ages of several Galactic globular clusters and the distance of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The latter is close to that previously derived from Classical Cepheids uncorrected for any metallicity effect, indicating that any such effect is small. We also discuss the somewhat puzzling results obtained for our two type 2 Cepheids.Item Distance Scale Zero Points From Galactic RR Lyrae Star Parallaxes(2011-12) Benedict, G. Fritz; McArthur, Barbara E.; Feast, Michael W.; Barnes, Thomas G.; Harrison, Thomas E.; Bean, Jacob L.; Menzies, John W.; Chaboyer, Brian; Fossati, Luca; Nesvacil, Nicole; Smith, Horace A.; Kolenberg, Katrien; Laney, C. D.; Kochukhov, Oleg; Nelan, Edmund P.; Shulyak, D. V.; Taylor, Denise; Freedman, Wendy L.; Benedict, G. Fritz; McArthur, Barbara E.; Barnes, Thomas G.We present new absolute trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions for seven Population II variable stars-five RR Lyr variables: RZ Cep, XZ Cyg, SU Dra, RR Lyr, and UV Oct; and two type 2 Cepheids: VY Pyx and kappa Pav. We obtained these results with astrometric data from Fine Guidance Sensors, white-light interferometers on Hubble Space Telescope. We find absolute parallaxes in milliseconds of arc: RZ Cep, 2.12 +/- 0.16 mas; XZ Cyg, 1.67 +/- 0.17 mas; SU Dra, 1.42 +/- 0.16 mas; RR Lyr, 3.77 +/- 0.13 mas; UV Oct, 1.71 +/- 0.10 mas; VY Pyx, 6.44 +/- 0.23 mas; and. Pav, 5.57 +/- 0.28 mas; an average sigma(pi)/pi = 5.4%. With these parallaxes, we compute absolute magnitudes in V and K bandpasses corrected for interstellar extinction and Lutz-Kelker-Hanson bias. Using these RR Lyrae variable star absolute magnitudes, we then derive zero points for M-V-[Fe/H] and M-K-[Fe/H]-log P relations. The technique of reduced parallaxes corroborates these results. We employ our new results to determine distances and ages of several Galactic globular clusters and the distance of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The latter is close to that previously derived from Classical Cepheids uncorrected for any metallicity effect, indicating that any such effect is small. We also discuss the somewhat puzzling results obtained for our two type 2 Cepheids.Item Dust Around R Coronae Borealis Stars. I. Spitzer/Infrared Spectrograph Observations(2011-09) Garcia-Hernandez, D. Anibal; Rao, N. Kameswara; Lambert, David L.; Lambert, David L.Spitzer/infrared spectrograph (IRS) spectra from 5 to 37 mu m for a complete sample of 31 R Coronae Borealis stars (RCBs) are presented. These spectra are combined with optical and near-infrared photometry of each RCB at maximum light to compile a spectral energy distribution (SED). The SEDs are fitted with blackbody flux distributions and estimates are made of the ratio of the infrared flux from circumstellar dust to the flux emitted by the star. Comparisons for 29 of the 31 stars are made with the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) fluxes from three decades earlier: Spitzer and IRAS fluxes at 12 mu m and 25 mu m are essentially equal for all but a minority of the sample. For this minority, the IRAS to Spitzer flux ratio exceeds a factor of three. The outliers are suggested to be stars where formation of a dust cloud or dust puff is a rare event. A single puff ejected prior to the IRAS observations may have been reobserved by Spitzer as a cooler puff at a greater distance from the RCB. RCBs which experience more frequent optical declines have, in general, a circumstellar environment containing puffs subtending a larger solid angle at the star and a quasi-constant infrared flux. Yet, the estimated subtended solid angles and the blackbody temperatures of the dust show a systematic evolution to lower solid angles and cooler temperatures in the interval between IRAS and Spitzer. Dust emission by these RCBs and those in the LMC is similar in terms of total 24 mu m luminosity and [8.0]-[24.0] color index.