1111.2094 (Chow-Choong Ngeow)

Recent Progress of Cepheid Research at National Central University: From Spitzer to Kepler    [PDF]

Chow-Choong Ngeow

In this presentation I summarize recent work on Cepheid research carried out at the National Central University. The mid-infrared period-luminosity (P-L) relations for Cepheids are important in the James Webb Space Telescope era for distance scale work, as the relations have potential to derive the Hubble constant within ~2% accuracy - a critical constraint in the precision cosmology. Consequently, we have derived the mid-infrared P-L relations for Cepheids in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, using archival data from the Spitzer Space Telescope. Kepler Space Telescope is a NASA mission to search for Earth-size and larger planets around Sun-like stars, by observing continuously the stars in a dedicated patch of the sky. As a result, the almost un-interrupted observation is also used for stellar variability and asteroseismological study. However, Kepler observations are carried out with a single broad-band filter, hence ground-based follow-up observation needed to complement Kepler light curves to fully characterize the properties of the target stars. Here I present the ground-based optical follow-up observations for two Cepheid candidates located within the Kepler's field-of-view. Together with Kepler light curves, our ground-based data rule out V2279 Cyg being a Cepheid. Hence V1154 Cyg is the only Cepheid in the Kepler's field.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1111.2094