1211.4026 (Daniel J. Majaess et al.)

On the Metallicity Dependence of Classical Cepheid Light Amplitudes    [PDF]

Daniel J. Majaess, David G. Turner, Wolfgang P. Gieren, Leonid N. Berdnikov, David J. Lane

Classical Cepheids remain a cornerstone of the cosmic distance scale, and thus characterizing the dependence of their light amplitude on metallicity is important. Period-amplitude diagrams constructed for longer-period classical Cepheids in IC 1613, NGC 3109, SMC, NGC 6822, LMC, and the Milky Way imply that very metal-poor Cepheids typically exhibit smaller V-band amplitudes than their metal-rich counterparts. The results provide an alternate interpretation relative to arguments for a null and converse metallicity dependence. The empirical results can be employed to check predictions from theoretical models, to approximate mean abundances for target populations hosting numerous long-period Cepheids, and to facilitate the identification of potentially blended or peculiar objects.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1211.4026