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Observational studies of Cepheid amplitudes. I. Period-amplitude relationships for Galactic Cepheids and interrelation of amplitudes
Context: The dependence of amplitude on the pulsation period differsfrom other Cepheid-related relationships. Aims: We attempt torevise the period-amplitude (P-A) relationship of Galactic Cepheidsbased on multi-colour photometric and radial velocity data. Reliable P-Agraphs for Galactic Cepheids constructed for the U, B, V, R_C, andIC photometric bands and pulsational radial velocityvariations facilitate investigations of previously poorly studiedinterrelations between observable amplitudes. The effects of bothbinarity and metallicity on the observed amplitude, and the dichotomybetween short- and long-period Cepheids can both be studied. Methods: A homogeneous data set was created that contains basicphysical and phenomenological properties of 369 Galactic Cepheids.Pulsation periods were revised and amplitudes were determined by theFourier method. P-A graphs were constructed and an upper envelope to thedata points was determined in each graph. Correlations between variousamplitudes and amplitude-related parameters were searched for, usingCepheids without known companions. Results: Large amplitudeCepheids with companions exhibit smaller photometric amplitudes onaverage than solitary ones, as expected, while s-Cepheids pulsate withan arbitrary (although small) amplitude. The ratio of the observedradial velocity to blue photometric amplitudes, AV_RAD/A_B,is not as good an indicator of the pulsation mode as predictedtheoretically. This may be caused by an incorrect mode assignment to anumber of small amplitude Cepheids, which are not necessarily firstovertone pulsators. The dependence of the pulsation amplitudes onwavelength is used to identify duplicity of Cepheids. More than twentystars previously classified as solitary Cepheids are now suspected tohave a companion. The ratio of photometric amplitudes observed invarious bands confirms the existence of a dichotomy among normalamplitude Cepheids. The limiting period separating short- andlong-period Cepheids is 10.47 days. Conclusions:Interdependences of pulsational amplitudes, the period dependence of theamplitude parameters, and the dichotomy have to be taken into account asconstraints in modelling the structure and pulsation of Cepheids.Studies of the P-L relationship must comply with the break at 10.47°instead of the currently used “convenient” value of 10 days.Table 1 is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymousftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/504/959
| Galactic abundance gradients from Cepheids. On the iron abundance gradient around 10-12 kpc
Context: Classical Cepheids are excellent tracers of intermediate-massstars, since their distances can be estimated with very high accuracy.In particular, they can be adopted to trace the chemical evolution ofthe Galactic disk. Aims: Homogeneous iron abundance measurements for 33Galactic Cepheids located in the outer disk together with accuratedistance determinations based on near-infrared photometry are adopted toconstrain the Galactic iron gradient beyond 10 kpc. Methods: Ironabundances were determined using high resolution Cepheid spectracollected with three different observational instruments: ESPaDOnS@CFHT,Narval@TBL and FEROS@2.2m ESO/MPG telescope. Cepheid distances wereestimated using near-infrared (J,H,K-band) period-luminosity relationsand data from SAAO and the 2MASS catalog. Results: The least squaressolution over the entire data set indicates that the iron gradient inthe Galactic disk presents a slope of -0.052±0.003 textrm {dexkpc}-1 in the 5-17 kpc range. However, the change of the ironabundance across the disk seems to be better described by a linearregime inside the solar circle and a flattening of the gradient towardthe outer disk (beyond 10 kpc). In the latter region the iron gradientpresents a shallower slope, i.e. -0.012±0.014 textrm {dexkpc}-1. In the outer disk (10-12 kpc) we also found thatCepheids present an increase in the spread in iron abundance. Currentevidence indicates that the spread in metallicity depends on theGalactocentric longitude. Finally, current data do not support thehypothesis of a discontinuity in the iron gradient at Galactocentricdistances of 10-12 kpc. Conclusions: The occurrence of a spread in ironabundance as a function of the Galactocentric longitude indicates thatlinear radial gradients should be cautiously treated to constrain thechemical evolution across the disk.
| The influence of chemical composition on the properties of Cepheid stars. II. The iron content
Context: The Cepheid period-luminosity (PL) relation is unquestionablyone of the most powerful tools at our disposal for determining theextragalactic distance scale. While significant progress has been madein the past few years towards its understanding and characterizationboth on the observational and theoretical sides, the debate on theinfluence that chemical composition may have on the PL relation is stillunsettled. Aims: With the aim to assess the influence of the stellariron content on the PL relation in the V and K bands, we have relatedthe V-band and the K-band residuals from the standard PL relations ofFreedman et al. (2001, ApJ, 553, 47) and Persson et al. (2004, AJ, 128,2239), respectively, to [Fe/H]. Methods: We used direct measurements ofthe iron abundances of 68 Galactic and Magellanic Cepheids from FEROSand UVES high-resolution and high signal-to-noise spectra. Results: Wefind a mean iron abundance ([Fe/H]) about solar (σ = 0.10) for ourGalactic sample (32 stars), ~-0.33 dex (σ = 0.13) for the LargeMagellanic Cloud (LMC) sample (22 stars) and ~-0.75 dex (σ = 0.08)for the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) sample (14 stars). Our abundancemeasurements of the Magellanic Cepheids double the number of starsstudied up to now at high resolution. The metallicity affects the V-bandCepheid PL relation and metal-rich Cepheids appear to be systematicallyfainter than metal-poor ones. These findings depend neither on theadopted distance scale for Galactic Cepheids nor on the adopted LMCdistance modulus. Current data do not allow us to reach a firmconclusion concerning the metallicity dependence of the K-band PLrelation. The new Galactic distances indicate a small effect, whereasthe old ones support a marginal effect. Conclusions: Recent robustestimates of the LMC distance and current results indicate that theCepheid PL relation is not Universal.Based on observations madewith ESO Telescopes at Paranal and La Silla Observatories underproposal ID 66.D-0571.Full Table [see full textsee full textsee full textsee full text] isonly available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
| Baade-Wesselink distances and the effect of metallicity in classical cepheids
Context: The metallicity dependence of the Cepheid PL-relation is ofimportance in establishing the extra-galactic distance scale. Aims: Theaim of this paper is to investigate the metallicity dependence of thePL-relation in V and K based on a sample of 68 Galactic Cepheids withindividual Baade-Wesselink distances (some of the stars also have anHST-based parallax) and individually determined metallicities fromhigh-resolution spectroscopy. Methods: Literature values of the V-band,K-band and radial velocity data have been collected for a sample of 68classical cepheids that have their metallicity determined in theliterature from high-resolution spectroscopy. Based on a (V-K)surface-brightness relation and a projection factor derived in aprevious paper, distances have been derived from a Baade-Wesselinkanalysis. PL- and PLZ-relations in V and K are derived. Results: Theeffect of the adopted dependence of the projection factor on period isinvestigated. The change from a constant p-factor to one recentlysuggested in the literature with a mild dependence on log P results in aless steep slope by 0.1 unit, which is about the 1-sigma error bar inthe slope itself. The observed slope in the PL-relation in V in the LMCagrees with both hypotheses. In K the difference between the Galacticand LMC slope is larger and would favour a mild period dependence of thep-factor. The dependence on metallicity in V and K is found to bemarginal, and independent of the choice of p-factor on period. Thisresult is severely limited by the small range in metallicity covered bythe Galactic Cepheids.
| Color Excesses of Classical Cepheids in uvby Photometry
In order to determine color excess in the uvby color system forfundamental-mode classical Cepheids, 29 Cepheids whose reliable distancevalues were compiled by Ngeow and Kanbur were selected as calibrationstars. Then intrinsic photometric indices were calculated using givendistances to derive a calibrated empirical relation between(b-y)0 and period, [c1], and [m1]through a linear fit. This relation was used to determine color excessesof E(b-y) for 116 Cepheids, and the period-color relation was derived.
| Classical Cepheid pulsation models. XI. Effects of convection and chemical composition on the period-luminosity and period-Wesenheit relations
In spite of the relevance of classical Cepheids as primary distanceindicators, a general consensus on the dependence of theperiod-luminosity (PL) relation on the Cepheid chemical composition hasnot yet been achieved. From the theoretical point of view, our previousinvestigations were able to reproduce some empirical tests for suitableassumptions on the helium-to-metal relative enrichment, but theseresults relied on specific assumptions concerning the mass-luminosityrelation and the efficiency of the convective transfer in the pulsatingenvelopes. In this paper, we investigate the effects of the assumedvalue of the mixing-length parameter l/Hp on the pulsationproperties and we release the assumption of a fixed mass-luminosityrelation. To this purpose, new nonlinear convective fundamentalpulsation models have been computed for various chemical compositions(Z=0.004, 0.008, 0.01 and 0.02) and adopting l/H_p=1.7-1.8, which islarger than that (1.5) used in our previous papers. From the extendedmodel set, synthetic PL relations in the various photometric bands arederived using the predicted instability strip together with recentevolutionary tracks. We show that as the l/Hp value increasesthe pulsation region gets narrower, mostly due to the blueward shift ofthe red edge for fundamental pulsation, with the effect becomingstronger at the higher metal contents (Z≥ 0.01). However, thecomparison of the new models with previously computed models shows thatthe l/Hp variation has no consequence on the predictedperiod-Wesenheit (PW) relations, which instead are influenced by thepulsator metal content. On this basis, we present a straightforward wayto infer the distance and metal content of variables with observed BVIor BVK magnitudes. As for the PL relations, we show that either thezero-point and the slope are very slightly modified by thel/Hp variation, at constant chemical composition. We alsoconfirm that: (1) moving from visual to longer wavelengths, thepredicted period-magnitude distribution for a given metal contentbecomes narrower and its slope becomes steeper; (2) decreasing the metalcontent, the PL relations become steeper and brighter, with the amountof this metallicity effect decreasing from optical to near-infraredbands. Overall, we show that our pulsation relations appear fullyconsistent with the observed properties of Galactic and Magellanic CloudCepheids, supporting the predicted steepening and brightening of the PLrelations when moving from metal-rich to metal-poor variables. Moreover,we show that the distances inferred by the predicted PW relations agreewith recently measured trigonometric parallaxes, whereas they suggest acorrection to the values based on the Infrared Surface Brightnesstechnique, as already found from an independent method. Finally, alsothe pulsation metal contents suggested by the predicted PW relationsappear in statistical agreement with spectroscopic [Fe/H] measurements.
| A new calibration of Galactic Cepheid period-luminosity relations from B to K bands, and a comparison to LMC relations
Context: The universality of the Cepheid period-luminosity (PL)relations has been under discussion since metallicity effects wereassumed to play a role in the value of the intercept and, more recently,of the slope of these relations. Aims: The goal of the present study isto calibrate the Galactic PL relations in various photometric bands(from B to K) and to compare the results to the well-established PLrelations in the LMC. Methods: We use a set of 59 calibrating stars,the distances of which are measured using five different distanceindicators: Hubble Space Telescope and revised Hipparcos parallaxes,infrared surface brightness and interferometric Baade-Wesselinkparallaxes, and classical Zero-Age-Main-Sequence-fitting parallaxes forCepheids belonging to open clusters or OB stars associations. A detaileddiscussion of absorption corrections and projection factor to be used isgiven. Results: We find no significant difference in the slopes of thePL relations between LMC and our Galaxy. Conclusions: We conclude thatthe Cepheid PL relations have universal slopes in all photometric bands,not depending on the galaxy under study (at least for LMC and MilkyWay). The possible zero-point variation with metal content is notdiscussed in the present work, but an upper limit of 18.50 for the LMCdistance modulus can be deduced from our data.Tables 2, 6 and 7 are only available in electronic form athttp://www.aanda.org
| Stellar population synthesis in the presence of diluting components. Application to the infrared range for MCG-6-30-15
Aims.Numerous studies of the host galaxy of Seyfert nuclei are beingconducted in the optical/visible range. However, in the case of Seyfert1, the spectra of the inner galactic core can be dominated by broademission lines coming from the nucleus that totally flood the underlyinggalactic spectrum, preventing any study of stellar populations. Methods: Because part of the IR H-band is free of the strongest AGNemission lines, we developed a method that allows the stellar populationof the very internal regions of the Seyfert 1 galaxies to be studied inthe presence of a diluting continuum. Results: A new inverse methodusing the flux as observables was developed and deeply tested. Thespecificity of the method is to take the non stellar parameters(reddening, dust emission, and non-stellar continuum) into accountdirectly in the synthetic distance to be minimised. Conclusions: Themethod is powerful for deriving the stellar content of the very centralpart of AGN. However, the results for the stellar population are stilltentative, as the incompleteness of the stellar base (lack ofsupermetallic giant stars) could lead to large uncertainties. Newobservations of stars in the infrared at high spectral resolution, inparticular metal-rich stars, are mandatory to build a complete stellarlibrary that can be used to synthesise the host galaxies of AGN with asmuch accuracy as possible.
| Cepheid parallaxes and the Hubble constant
Revised Hipparcos parallaxes for classical Cepheids are analysedtogether with 10 Hubble Space Telescope (HST)-based parallaxes. In areddening-free V, I relation we find that the coefficient of logP is thesame within the uncertainties in our Galaxy as in the Large MagellanicCloud (LMC), contrary to some previous suggestions. Cepheids in theinner region of NGC4258 with near solar metallicities confirm thisresult. We obtain a zero-point for the reddening-free relation and applyit to the Cepheids in galaxies used by Sandage et al. to calibrate theabsolute magnitudes of Type Ia supernova (SNIa) and to derive the Hubbleconstant. We revise their result for H0 from 62 to 70 +/-5kms-1Mpc-1. The Freedman et al. value is revisedfrom 72 to 76 +/- 8kms-1Mpc-1. These results areinsensitive to Cepheid metallicity corrections. The Cepheids in theinner region of NGC4258 yield a modulus of 29.22 +/- 0.03 (int.)compared with a maser-based modulus of 29.29 +/- 0.15. Distance modulifor the LMC, uncorrected for any metallicity effects, are 18.52 +/- 0.03from a reddening-free relation in V, I; 18.47 +/- 0.03 from aperiod-luminosity relation at K; 18.45 +/- 0.04 from aperiod-luminosity-colour relation in J, K. Adopting a metallicitycorrection in V, I from Macri et al. leads to a true LMC modulus of18.39 +/- 0.05.
| The reliability of Cepheid reddenings based on BVIC photometry
Externally determined values of E(B - V) (Espacered) for 40Galactic Cepheids are compared to reddenings determined using B - V andV - IC colour indices and the method of Dean, Warren &Cousins (EBVIC), updated to allow for metallicitycorrections. With three stars omitted on the grounds of uncertainty intheir space reddenings, we find thatThe two scales agree well in scale and zero-point, and there is nosignificant trend with period. Given the non-zero errors in the Cepheidspace reddenings, the estimated error in BVIC Cepheidreddenings is no more than 0.02.The above results are not significantly changed whether one corrects thereddenings for metallicity using older Bell models, or using more recentmodels by Sandage, Bell & Tripicco. Using the SBT models to correctthe reddenings of Cloud Cepheids for metallicity gives slightly smallerreddenings at a given metal deficiency, yielding `new' median reddeningsof 0.056 (Small Magellanic Cloud) and 0.076 (Large Magellanic Cloud) ifwe assume the same metal deficiencies as Caldwell and Coulson. Withmetal deficiencies of [M/H] = -0.7 and -0.25, the median reddenings are0.040 and 0.058.
| Detailed chemical composition of Galactic Cepheids. A determination of the Galactic abundance gradient in the 8-12 kpc region
Aims.The recent introduction of high-resolution/large spectral-rangespectrographs has provided the opportunity to investigate the chemicalcomposition of classical Cepheids in detail. This paper focusses on newabundance determinations for iron and 6 light metals (O, Na, Mg, Al, Si,Ca) in 30 Galactic Cepheids. We also give a new estimate of the Galacticradial abundance gradient. Methods: The stellar effective temperatureswere determined using the method of line depth ratios, and the surfacegravity and the microturbulent velocity vt by imposing theionization balance between Fe I and Fe II with the help of curves ofgrowth. Abundances were calculated with classical LTE atmosphere models. Results: Abundances were obtained with rms accuracies of about0.05-0.10 dex for Fe, and 0.05-0.20 dex for the other elements. Cepheidsin our sample have solar-like abundances, and current measurements agreequite well with previous determinations. We computed "single zone"Galactic radial abundance gradients for the 8-12 kpc region and found aslope for iron of -0.061 dex kpc-1.Based on observations made with the 1.52 m ESO Telescope at La Silla,Chile.
| Pulkovo compilation of radial velocities for 35495 stars in a common system.
Not Available
| Infrared Surface Brightness Distances to Cepheids: A Comparison of Bayesian and Linear-Bisector Calculations
We have compared the results of Bayesian statistical calculations andlinear-bisector calculations for obtaining Cepheid distances and radiiby the infrared surface brightness method. We analyzed a set of 38Cepheids using a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo method that had beenrecently studied with a linear-bisector method. The distances obtainedby the two techniques agree to 1.5%+/-0.6%, with the Bayesian distancesbeing larger. The radii agree to 1.1%+/-0.7%, with the Bayesiandeterminations again being larger. We interpret this result asdemonstrating that the two methods yield the same distances and radii.This implies that the short distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud foundin recent linear-bisector studies of Cepheids is not caused bydeficiencies in the mathematical treatment. However, the computeduncertainties in distance and radius for our data set are larger in theBayesian calculation by factors of 1.4-6.7. We give reasons to favor theBayesian computations of the uncertainties. The larger uncertainties canhave a significant impact on interpretation of Cepheid distances andradii obtained from the infrared surface brightness method.
| Mean JHK Magnitudes of Fundamental-Mode Cepheids from Single-Epoch Observations
We present an empirical method for converting single-point near-infraredJ, H, and K measurements of fundamental-mode Cepheids to meanmagnitudes, using complete light curves in V or I bands. The algorithmis based on the template light curves in the near-infrared bandpasses.The mean uncertainty of the method is estimated to about 0.03 mag, whichis smaller than the uncertainties obtained in other approaches to theproblem in the literature.
| Pulsation and Evolutionary Masses of Classical Cepheids. I. Milky Way Variables
We investigate a selected sample of Galactic classical Cepheids withavailable distance and reddening estimates in the framework of thetheoretical scenario provided by pulsation models, computed with metalabundance Z=0.02, helium content in the range of Y=0.25-0.31, andvarious choices of the stellar mass and luminosity. After transformingthe bolometric light curve of the fundamental models into BVRIJKmagnitudes, we derived analytical relations connecting the pulsationperiod with the stellar mass, the mean (intensity averaged) absolutemagnitude, and the color of the pulsators. These relations are usedtogether with the Cepheid observed absolute magnitudes in order todetermine the ``pulsation'' mass, Mp, of each individualvariable. The comparison with the ``evolutionary'' masses,Me,can, given by canonical (no convective core overshooting,no mass loss) models of central He-burning stellar structures revealsthat the Mp/Me,can ratio is correlated with theCepheid period, ranging from ~0.8 at logP=0.5 to ~1 at logP=1.5. Wediscuss the effects of different input physics and/or assumptions on theevolutionary computations, as well as of uncertainties in the adoptedCepheid metal content, distance, and reddening. Eventually, we find thatthe pulsational results can be interpreted in terms of mass loss duringor before the Cepheid phase, whose amount increases as the Cepheidoriginal mass decreases. It vanishes around 13 Msolar andincreases up to ~20% at 4 Msolar.
| The influence of chemical composition on the properties of Cepheid stars. I. Period-Luminosity relation vs. iron abundance
We have assessed the influence of the stellar iron content on theCepheid Period-Luminosity (PL) relation by relating the V band residualsfrom the Freedman et al. (\cite{fre01}) PL relation to [Fe/H] for 37Galactic and Magellanic Clouds Cepheids. The iron abundances weremeasured from FEROS and UVES high-resolution and high-signal to noiseoptical spectra. Our data indicate that the stars become fainter asmetallicity increases, until a plateau or turnover point is reached atabout solar metallicity. Our data are incompatible with both nodependence of the PL relation on iron abundance, and with the linearlydecreasing behavior often found in the literature (e.g. Kennicutt et al.\cite{ken98}; Sakai et al. \cite{sak04}). On the other hand, non-lineartheoretical models of Fiorentino et al. (\cite{fio02}) provide a fairlygood description of the data.Based on observations made with ESO Telescopes at La Silla and ParanalObservatories under proposal ID 66.D-0571.Table \ref{tab:log} is only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org
| Period-luminosity relations for Galactic Cepheid variables with independent distance measurements
In this paper, we derive the period-luminosity (PL) relation forGalactic Cepheids with recent independent distance measurements fromopen cluster, Barnes-Evans surface brightness, interferometry and HubbleSpace Telescope astrometry techniques. Our PL relation confirms theresults from recent works, which showed that the Galactic Cepheidsfollow a different PL relation to their Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)counterparts. Our results also show that the slope of the Galactic PLrelation is inconsistent with the LMC slope with more than 95 per centconfidence level. We apply this Galactic PL relation to find thedistance to NGC 4258. Our result of μo= 29.49 +/- 0.06 mag(random error) agrees at the ~1.4σ level with the geometricaldistance of μgeo= 29.28 +/- 0.15 mag from water masermeasurements.
| The effect of metallicity on the Cepheid Period-Luminosity relation from a Baade-Wesselink analysis of Cepheids in the Galaxy and in the Small Magellanic Cloud
We have applied the near-IR Barnes-Evans realization of theBaade-Wesselink method as calibrated by Fouqué & Gieren(\cite{FG97}) to five metal-poor Cepheids with periods between 13 and 17days in the Small Magellanic Cloud as well as to a sample of 34 GalacticCepheids to determine the effect of metallicity on the period-luminosity(P-L) relation. For ten of the Galactic Cepheids we present new accurateand well sampled radial-velocity curves. The Baade-Wesselink analysisprovides accurate individual distances and luminosities for the Cepheidsin the two samples, allowing us to constrain directly, in a purelydifferential way, the metallicity effect on the Cepheid P-L relation.For the Galactic Cepheids we provide a new set of P-L relations whichhave zero-points in excellent agreement with astrometric andinterferometric determinations. These relations can be used directly forthe determination of distances to solar-metallicity samples of Cepheidsin distant galaxies, circumventing any corrections for metallicityeffects on the zero-point and slope of the P-L relation. We findevidence for both such metallicity effects in our data. Comparing ourtwo samples of Cepheids at a mean period of about 15 days, we find aweak effect of metallicity on the luminosity similar to that adopted bythe HST Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale. The effect issmaller for the V band, where we find Δ MV/Δ[Fe/H] = -0.21±0.19, and larger for the Wesenheit index W, wherewe find Δ MW/Δ [Fe/H] = -0.29±0.19. Forthe I and K bands we find Δ MI/Δ [Fe/H] =-0.23± 0.19 and Δ MK/Δ [Fe/H] =-0.21± 0.19, respectively. The error estimates are 1 σstatistical errors. It seems now well established that metal-poorCepheids with periods longer than about 10 days are intrinsicallyfainter in all these bands than their metal-rich counterparts ofidentical period. Correcting the LMC distance estimate of Fouquéet al. (\cite{FSG03}) for this metallicity effect leads to a revised LMCdistance modulus of (m-M)_0 = 18.48± 0.07, which is also inexcellent agreement with the value of (m-M)_0 = 18.50± 0.10adopted by the Key Project. From our SMC Cepheid distances we determinethe SMC distance to be 18.88±0.13 magirrespective of metallicity.Some of the observations reported here were obtained with the MultipleMirror Telescope, operated jointly by the Smithsonian Institution andthe University of Arizona.Tables A.2-A.11 are only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/415/531
| Consistent distances from Baade-Wesselink analyses of Cepheids and RR Lyraes
By using the same algorithm in the Baade-Wesselink analyses of GalacticRR Lyrae and Cepheid variables, it is shown that, within 0.03-mag1σ statistical error, they yield the same distance modulus for theLarge Magellanic Cloud. By fixing the zero-point of thecolour-temperature calibration to those of the current infrared fluxmethods and using updated period-luminosity-colour relations, we get anaverage value of 18.55 for the true distance modulus of the LMC.
| Interstellar Extinction and the Intrinsic Colors of Classical Cepheids in the Galaxy, the LMC, and the SMC
New methods are applied to samples of classical cepheids in the galaxy,the Large Magellanic Cloud, and the Small Magellanic Cloud to determinethe interstellar extinction law for the classical cepheids, R B:R V:RI:R J:R H:R K= 4.190:3.190:1.884:0.851:0.501:0.303, the color excessesfor classical cepheids in the galaxy,E(B-V)=-0.382-0.168logP+0.766(V-I), and the color excesses for classicalcepheids in the LMC and SMC, E(B-V)=-0.374-0.166logP+0.766(V-I). Thedependence of the intrinsic color (B-V)0 on the metallicity of classicalcepheids is discussed. The intrinsic color (V-I)0 is found to beabsolutely independent of the metallicity of classical cepheids. A highprecision formula is obtained for calculating the intrinsic colors ofclassical cepheids in the galaxy:(-)0=0.365(±0.011)+0.328(±0.012)logP.
| New Period-Luminosity and Period-Color relations of classical Cepheids: I. Cepheids in the Galaxy
321 Galactic fundamental-mode Cepheids with good B, V, and (in mostcases) I photometry by Berdnikov et al. (\cite{Berdnikov:etal:00}) andwith homogenized color excesses E(B-V) based on Fernie et al.(\cite{Fernie:etal:95}) are used to determine their period-color (P-C)relation in the range 0.4~ 1.4). The latter effect is enhanced by asuggestive break of the P-L relation of LMC and SMC at log P = 1.0towards still shallower values as shown in a forthcoming paper.Table 1 is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymousftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/404/423
| Near IR spectroscopy of active galactic nuclei
Using the VLT together with the near infrared instrument ISAAC, we haveobtained medium spectral and high spatial resolution observations of asample of nearby Seyfert galaxies in the H-band. This band isparticularly suited for stellar population studies since the stellarcomponent dominates over the AGN nucleus. The H-band also includes thepeak contribution from cool stars. The AGN spectra are very rich instrong metallic lines which are sensitive to stellar luminosity class.For 4 out of 5 galaxies the central velocity dispersions are found to besignificantly lower than reported in previous studies. Gradients in thestellar population within the central regions were searched for,together with evidence for dilution of the stellar spectral featureswithin the nucleus. Based on observations collected at the Very LargeTelescope (UT1) of the European Southern Observatory, Paranal, Chile,ESO NO 63.A-0366.
| Fundamental Parameters of Cepheids. V. Additional Photometry and Radial Velocity Data for Southern Cepheids
I present photometric and radial velocity data for Galactic Cepheids,most of them being in the southern hemisphere. There are 1250 Genevaseven-color photometric measurements for 62 Cepheids, the averageuncertainty per measurement is better than 0.01 mag. A total of 832velocity measurements have been obtained with the CORAVEL radialvelocity spectrograph for 46 Cepheids. The average accuracy of theradial velocity data is 0.38 km s-1. There are 33 stars withboth photometry and radial velocity data. I discuss the possiblebinarity or period change that these new data reveal. I also presentreddenings for all Cepheids with photometry. The data are availableelectronically. Based on observations obtained at the European SouthernObservatory, La Silla.
| Calibration of the distance scale from galactic Cepheids. I. Calibration based on the GFG sample
New estimates of the distances of 36 nearby galaxies are presented basedon accurate distances of galactic Cepheids obtained by Gieren et al.(1998) from the geometrical Barnes-Evans method. The concept of``sosie'' is applied to extend the distance determination toextragalactic Cepheids without assuming the linearity of the PLrelation. Doing so, the distance moduli are obtained in astraightforward way. The correction for extinction is made using twophotometric bands (V and I) according to the principles introduced byFreedman & Madore (1990). Finally, the statistical bias due to theincompleteness of the sample is corrected according to the preceptsintroduced by Teerikorpi (1987) without introducing any free parameters(except the distance modulus itself in an iterative scheme). The finaldistance moduli depend on the adopted extinction ratioRV/RI and on the limiting apparent magnitude ofthe sample. A comparison with the distance moduli recently published bythe Hubble Space Telescope Key Project (HSTKP) team reveals a fairagreement when the same ratio RV/RI is used butshows a small discrepancy at large distance. In order to bypass theuncertainty due to the metallicity effect it is suggested to consideronly galaxies having nearly the same metallicity as the calibratingCepheids (i.e. Solar metallicity). The internal uncertainty of thedistances is about 0.1 mag but the total uncertainty may reach 0.3 mag.The table of the Appendix and Table 3 are available in electronic format CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/383/398, and on ouranonymous ftp-server www-obs.univ-lyon1.fr (pub/base/CEPHEIDES.tar.gz).
| Catalogue of [Fe/H] determinations for FGK stars: 2001 edition
The catalogue presented here is a compilation of published atmosphericparameters (Teff, log g, [Fe/H]) obtained from highresolution, high signal-to-noise spectroscopic observations. This newedition has changed compared to the five previous versions. It is nowrestricted to intermediate and low mass stars (F, G and K stars). Itcontains 6354 determinations of (Teff, log g, [Fe/H]) for3356 stars, including 909 stars in 79 stellar systems. The literature iscomplete between January 1980 and December 2000 and includes 378references. The catalogue is made up of two tables, one for field starsand one for stars in galactic associations, open and globular clustersand external galaxies. The catalogue is distributed through the CDSdatabase. Access to the catalogue with cross-identification to othersets of data is also possible with VizieR (Ochsenbein et al.\cite{och00}). The catalogue (Tables 1 and 2) is only available inelectronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr(130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/373/159 and VizieRhttp://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/.
| NSV 01450: a New Bright Classical Cepheid in the Milky Way Field
Photometric data extracted from more than 5000 CCD observations of theMilky Way field star NSV 01450, with galactic co-ordinates l=145^°.9 and b=4^° .9, show that this object is a brightclassical Cepheid with a period of 12.639 +/- 0.020 days and an average< V > magnitude of 11.045+/- 0.016. The computed colour excess isE(B-V)= 0.553 +/- 0.056, yielding a distance modulus m -M_V of 15.537+/- 0.212. In addition, it was found that the star GSC 3730_0797 in thefield of NSV 01450 is also variable.
| Catalogue of Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (CADARS) - Third edition - Comments and statistics
The Catalogue, available at the Centre de Données Stellaires deStrasbourg, consists of 13 573 records concerning the results obtainedfrom different methods for 7778 stars, reported in the literature. Thefollowing data are listed for each star: identifications, apparentmagnitude, spectral type, apparent diameter in arcsec, absolute radiusin solar units, method of determination, reference, remarks. Commentsand statistics obtained from CADARS are given. The Catalogue isavailable in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcar?J/A+A/367/521
| Stars with the Largest Hipparcos Photometric Amplitudes
A list of the 2027 stars that have the largest photometric amplitudes inHipparcos Photometry shows that most variable stars are all Miras. Thepercentage of variable types change as a function of amplitude. Thiscompilation should also be of value to photometrists looking forrelatively unstudied, but large amplitude stars.
| Galactic Cepheids. Catalogue of light-curve parameters and distances
We report a new version of the catalogue of distances and light-curveparameters for Galactic classical Cepheids. The catalogue listsamplitudes, magnitudes at maximum light, and intensity means for 455stars in BVRI filters of the Johnson system and (RI)_C filters of theCron-Cousins system. The distances are based on our new multicolour setof PL relations and on our Cepheid-based solution for interstellarextinction law parameters and are referred to an LMC distance modulus of18.25. The catalogue is only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| Multi-colour PL-relations of Cepheids in the bt HIPPARCOS catalogue and the distance to the LMC
We analyse a sample of 236 Cepheids from the hipparcos catalog, usingthe method of ``reduced parallaxes'' in V, I, K and the reddening-free``Wesenheit-index''. We compare our sample to those considered by Feast& Catchpole (1997) and Lanoix et al. (1999), and argue that oursample is the most carefully selected one with respect to completeness,the flagging of overtone pulsators, and the removal of Cepheids that mayinfluence the analyses for various reasons (double-mode Cepheids,unreliable hipparcos solutions, possible contaminated photometry due tobinary companions). From numerical simulations, and confirmed by theobserved parallax distribution, we derive a (vertical) scale height ofCepheids of 70 pc, as expected for a population of 3-10 Msunstars. This has consequences for Malmquist- and Lutz-Kelker (Lutz &Kelker 1973, Oudmaijer et al. 1998) type corrections which are smallerfor a disk population than for a spherical population. The V and I datasuggest that the slope of the Galactic PL-relations may be shallowerthan that observed for LMC Cepheids, either for the whole period range,or that there is a break at short periods (near log P_0 ~ 0.7-0.8). Westress the importance of two systematic effects which influence thedistance to the LMC: the slopes of the Galactic PL-relations andmetallicity corrections. In order to assess the influence of thesevarious effects, we present 27 distance moduli (DM) to the LMC. Theseare based on three different colours (V,I,K), three different slopes(the slope observed for Cepheids in the LMC, a shallower slope predictedfrom one set of theoretical models, and a steeper slope as derived forGalactic Cepheids from the surface-brightness technique), and threedifferent metallicity corrections (no correction as predicted by one setof theoretical models, one implying larger DM as predicted by anotherset of theoretical models, and one implying shorter DM based onempirical evidence). We derive DM between 18.45 +/- 0.18 and 18.86 +/-0.12. The DM based on K are shorter than those based on V and I andrange from 18.45 +/- 0.18 to 18.62 +/- 0.19, but the DM in K could besystematically too low by about 0.1 magnitude because of a bias due tothe fact that NIR photometry is available only for a limited number ofstars. From the Wesenheit-index we derive a DM of 18.60 +/- 0.11,assuming the observed slope of LMC Cepheids and no metallicitycorrection, for want of more information. The DM to the LMC based on theparallax data can be summarised as follows. Based on the PL-relation inV and I, and the Wesenheit-index, the DM is 18.60 ± 0.11(± 0.08 slope)(^{+0.08}_{-0.15} ;metallicity), which is ourcurrent best estimate. Based on the PL-relation in K the DM is ;;;;18.52 +/- 0.18 (± 0.03 ;slope) (± 0.06 ;metallicity)(^{+0.10}_{-0} ;sampling ;bias). The random error is mostly due to thegiven accuracy of the hipparcos parallaxes and the number of Cepheids inthe respective samples. The terms between parentheses indicate thepossible systematic uncertainties due to the slope of the GalacticPL-relations, the metallicity corrections, and in the K-band, due to thelimited number of stars. Recent work by Sandage et al. (1999) indicatesthat the effect of metallicity towards shorter distances may be smallerin V and I than indicated here. From this, we point out the importanceof obtaining NIR photometry for more (closeby) Cepheids, as for themoment NIR photometry is only available for 27% of the total sample.This would eliminate the possible bias due to the limited number ofstars, and would reduce the random error estimate from 0.18 to about0.10 mag. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the DM to reddening,metallicity correction and slope are smallest in the K-band. Based ondata from the ESA HP astrometry satellite.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Winkelmaß |
| Right ascension: | 15h42m20.92s |
| Declination: | -55°18'42.9" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 9.142 |
| Proper motion RA: | -2.2 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -0.4 |
| B-T magnitude: | 11.107 |
| V-T magnitude: | 9.305 |
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