We present homogeneous and accurate iron abundances for 42 Galactic Cepheids based on high resolution (R ~ 38 000) high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ≥ 100) optical spectra collected with UVES at VLT ...(128 spectra). The above abundances were complemented with high-quality iron abundances provided either by our group (86) or available in the literature. We were careful to derive a common metallicity scale and ended up with a sample of 450 Cepheids. We also estimated accurate individual distances for the entire sample by using homogeneous near-infrared photometry and the reddening free period-Wesenheit relations. The new metallicity gradient is linear over a broad range of Galactocentric distances (RG ~ 5–19 kpc) and agrees quite well with similar estimates available in the literature (–0.060 ± 0.002 dex/kpc). We also uncover evidence that suggests that the residuals of the metallicity gradient are tightly correlated with candidate Cepheid groups (CGs). The candidate CGs have been identified as spatial overdensities of Cepheids located across the thin disk. They account for a significant fraction of the residual fluctuations, and also for the large intrinsic dispersion of the metallicity gradient. We performed a detailed comparison with metallicity gradients based on different tracers: OB stars and open clusters. We found very similar metallicity gradients for ages younger than 3 Gyr, while for older ages we found a shallower slope and an increase in the intrinsic spread. The above findings rely on homogeneous age, metallicity, and distance scales. Finally, by using a large sample of Galactic and Magellanic Cepheids for which accurate iron abundances are available, we found that the dependence of the luminosity amplitude on metallicity is vanishing.
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ABSTRACT We present a detailed investigation of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) disk using classical Cepheids. Our analysis is based on optical (I, V; OGLE-IV), near-infrared (NIR: J, H, ) and ...mid-infrared (MIR: w1; WISE) mean magnitudes. By adopting new templates to estimate the NIR mean magnitudes from single-epoch measurements, we build the currently most accurate, largest, and homogeneous multi-band data set of LMC Cepheids. We determine Cepheid individual distances using optical and NIR Period-Wesenheit relations (PWRs), to measure the geometry of the LMC disk and its viewing angles. Cepheid distances based on optical PWRs are precise at 3%, but accurate to 7%, while the ones based on NIR PWRs are more accurate (to 3%), but less precise (2%-15%), given the higher photometric error on the observed magnitudes. We found an inclination of i = 25.05 0.02 (stat.) 0.55 (syst.) deg, and a position angle of the lines of nodes P.A. = 150.76 0.02 (stat.) 0.07 (syst.) deg. These values agree well with estimates based either on young (Red Supergiants) or on intermediate-age (Asymptotic Giant Branch, Red Clump) stellar tracers, but they significantly differ from evaluations based on old (RR Lyrae) stellar tracers. This indicates that young/intermediate and old stellar populations have different spatial distributions. Finally, by using the reddening-law fitting approach, we provide a reddening map of the LMC disk, which is 10 times more accurate and 2 times larger than similar maps in the literature. We also found an LMC true distance modulus of (stat. and syst.) mag, in excellent agreement with the currently most accurate measurement.
Data from complex modern astronomical instruments often consist of a large number of different science and calibration files, and their reduction requires a variety of software tools. The execution ...chain of the tools represents a complex workflow that needs to be tuned and supervised, often by individual researchers that are not necessarily experts for any specific instrument. The efficiency of data reduction can be improved by using automatic workflows to organise data and execute a sequence of data reduction steps. To realize such efficiency gains, we designed a system that allows intuitive representation, execution and modification of the data reduction workflow, and has facilities for inspection and interaction with the data. Reflex includes novel concepts to increase the efficiency of astronomical data processing. While Reflex is a specific implementation of astronomical scientific workflows within the Kepler workflow engine, the overall design choices and methods can also be applied to other environments for running automated science workflows.
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Recent photometric analyses of the colour-magnitude diagrams of young massive clusters (YMCs) have found evidence for splitting in the main sequence and extended main-sequence turn-offs, both of ...which have been suggested to be caused by stellar rotation. Comparison of the observed main-sequence splitting with models has led various authors to suggest a rather extreme stellar rotation distribution, with a minority (10-30 per cent) of stars with low rotational velocities and the remainder (70-90 per cent) of stars rotating near the critical rotation (i.e. near break-up). We test this hypothesis by searching for Be stars within two YMCs in the Large Magellanic Cloud (NGC 1850 and NGC 1856), which are thought to be critically rotating stars with decretion discs that are (partially) ionized by their host stars. In both clusters, we detect large populations of Be stars at the main-sequence turn-off (~30-60 per cent of stars), which supports previous suggestions of large populations of rapidly rotating stars within massive clusters.
ABSTRACT
Classical Cepheids (DCEPs) are the most important primary indicators of the extragalactic distance scale. Establishing the dependence on metallicity of their period–luminosity and ...period–Wesenheit (PLZ/PWZ) relations has deep consequences on the calibration of secondary distance indicators that lead to the final estimate of the Hubble constant (H0). We collected high-resolution spectroscopy for 47 DCEPs plus 1 BL Her variables with HARPS-N@TNG and derived accurate atmospheric parameters, radial velocities, and metal abundances. We measured spectral lines for 29 species and characterized their chemical abundances, finding very good agreement with previous results. We re-determined the ephemerides for the program stars and measured their intensity-averaged magnitudes in the V, I, J, H, Ks bands. We complemented our sample with literature data and used the Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) to investigate the PLZ/PWZ relations for Galactic DCEPs in a variety of filter combinations. We find that the solution without any metallicity term is ruled out at more than the 5σ level. Our best estimate for the metallicity dependence of the intercept of the PLKs, PWJKs, PWVKs, and PWHVI relations with three parameters is −0.456 ± 0.099, −0.465 ± 0.071, −0.459 ± 0.107, and −0.366 ± 0.089 mag dex−1, respectively. These values are significantly larger than the recent literature. The present data are still inconclusive to establish whether or not also the slope of the relevant relationships depends on metallicity. Applying a correction to the standard zero-point offset of the Gaia parallaxes has the same effect of reducing by ∼22 per cent the size of the metallicity dependence on the intercept of the PLZ/PWZ relations.
Context. Cepheids are excellent tracers of young stellar populations. They play a crucial role in astrophysics as standard candles. The chemistry of classical Cepheids in the Milky Way is now quite ...well-known, however despite a much larger sample, the chemical composition of Magellanic Cepheids has been only scarcely investigated. Aims. For the first time, we study the chemical composition of several Cepheids located in the same populous cluster: NGC 1866, in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). To also investigate the chemical composition of Cepheids at lower metallicity, we look at four targets located in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). Our sample allows us to increase the number of Cepheids with known metallicities in the LMC/SMC by 20%/25% and the number of Cepheids with detailed chemical composition in the LMC/SMC by 46%/50%. Methods. We use canonical spectroscopic analysis to determine the chemical composition of Cepheids and provide abundances for a good number of α, iron-peak, and neutron-capture elements. Results. We find that six Cepheids in the LMC cluster NGC 1866 have a very homogeneous chemical composition, also consistent with red giant branch (RGB) stars in the cluster. Period–age relations that include no or average rotation indicate that all the Cepheids in NGC 1866 have a similar age and therefore belong to the same stellar population. Our results are in good agreement with theoretical models accounting for luminosity and radial velocity variations. Using distances based on period-luminosity relations in the near- or mid-infrared, we investigate for the first time the metallicity distribution of the young population in the SMC in the depth direction. Preliminary results show no metallicity gradient along the SMC main body, but our sample is small and does not contain Cepheids in the inner few degrees of the SMC.
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ABSTRACT
We present new radial velocity (RV) measurements of old (horizontal branch) and intermediate-age (red clump) stellar tracers in the Carina dwarf spheroidal. They are based on more than 2200 ...low-resolution spectra collected with VIMOS at Very Large Telescope (VLT). The targets are faint (20 ≲
V
≲ 21.5 mag), but the accuracy at the faintest limit is ≤9 km s
−1
. These data were complemented with RV measurements either based on spectra collected with FORS2 and FLAMES/GIRAFFE at VLT or available in the literature. We ended up with a sample of 2748 stars and among them, 1389 are candidate Carina stars. We found that the intermediate-age stellar component shows a well-defined rotational pattern around the minor axis. The western and the eastern side of the galaxy differ by +5 and −4 km s
−1
when compared with the main RV peak. The old stellar component is characterized by a larger RV dispersion and does not show evidence of the RV pattern. We compared the observed RV distribution with
N
-body simulations for a former disky dwarf galaxy orbiting a giant Milky Way–like galaxy. We rotated the simulated galaxy by 60° with respect to the major axis, we kept the observer on the orbital plane of the dwarf and extracted a sample of stars similar to the observed one. Observed and predicted
ratios across the central regions are in remarkable agreement. This evidence indicates that Carina was a disky dwarf galaxy that experienced several strong tidal interactions with the Milky Way. Owing to these interactions, Carina transformed from a disky to a prolate spheroid and the rotational velocity transformed into random motions.
Context. Multiple stellar populations of different ages and metallicities reside in the Galactic bulge that trace its structure and provide clues to its formation and evolution. Aims. We present the ...near-infrared observations of population II Cepheids in the Galactic bulge from VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) survey. The JHKs photometry together with optical data from Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) survey provide an independent estimate of the distance to the Galactic centre. The old, metal-poor and low-mass population II Cepheids are also investigated as useful tracers for the structure of the Galactic bulge. Methods. We identify 340 population II Cepheids in the VVV survey Galactic bulge catalogue based on their match with the OGLE-III Catalogue. The single-epoch JH and multi-epoch Ks observations complement the accurate periods and optical (VI) mean-magnitudes from OGLE. The sample consisting of BL Herculis and W Virginis subtypes is used to derive period-luminosity relations after correcting mean-magnitudes for the extinction. Our Ks-band period-luminosity relation, Ks = −2.189(0.056) log (P)−1 + 11.187(0.032), is consistent with published work for BL Herculis and W Virginis variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Results. We present a combined OGLE-III and VVV catalogue with periods, classification, mean magnitudes, and extinction for 264 Galactic bulge population II Cepheids that have good-quality Ks-band light curves. The absolute magnitudes for population II Cepheids and RR Lyraes calibrated using Gaia and Hubble Space Telescope parallaxes, together with calibrated magnitudes for Large Magellanic Cloud population II Cepheids, are used to obtain a distance to the Galactic centre, R0 = 8.34 ± 0.03(stat.) ± 0.41(syst.), which changes by + 0.05-0.25 with different extinction laws. While noting the limitation of small number statistics, we find that the present sample of population II Cepheids in the Galactic bulge shows a nearly spheroidal spatial distribution, similar to metal-poor RR Lyrae variables. We do not find evidence of the inclined bar as traced by the metal-rich red-clump stars. Conclusions. Population II Cepheid and RR Lyrae variables follow similar period-luminosity relations and trace the same metal-poor old population in the Galactic bulge. The number density for population II Cepheids is more limited as compared to abundant RR Lyraes but they are bright and exhibit a wide range in period that provides a robust period-luminosity relation for an accurate estimate of the distance to the Galactic centre.
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ABSTRACT
Classical Cepheids (DCEPs) are the most important standard candles in the extra-galactic distance scale thanks to the period–luminosity ($\rm PL$), period–luminosity–colour ($\rm PLC$), and ...period–Wesenheit ($\rm PW$) relations that hold for these objects. The advent of the Gaia mission, and in particular the Early Data Release 3 (EDR3), provided accurate parallaxes to calibrate these relations. In order to fully exploit Gaia measurements, the zero point (ZP) of Gaia parallaxes should be determined with an accuracy of a few $\rm \mu as$. The individual ZP corrections provided by the Gaia team depend on the magnitude and the position on the sky of the target. In this paper, we use an implicit method that relies on the Cepheid $\rm PL$ and $\rm PW$ relations to evaluate the ensemble Gaia parallax zero point. The best inferred estimation of the offset value needed to additionally correct (after the Gaia team correction) the Gaia parallaxes of the present DCEP sample amounts to $\rm -22\pm 4\, \mu as$. This value is in agreement with the most recent literature values and confirms that the correction proposed by the Gaia team overcorrected the parallaxes. As a further application of our results, we derive an estimate of the Large Magellanic Cloud distance ($\rm \mu _0=18.49\pm 0.06\, mag$) in very good agreement with the currently accepted value obtained through geometric methods.
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