Precise empirical determination of Metallicity dependence of near-infrared period-luminosity Relations for RR Lyrae variables

Anupam Bhardwaj, Marcella Marconi, Marina Rejkuba*, Richard de Grijs, Harinder P. Singh, Vittorio F. Braga, Shashi Kanbur, Chow-Choong Ngeow, Vincenzo Ripepi, Giuseppe Bono, Giulia De Somma, Massimo Dall’Ora

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

RR Lyrae variables are excellent Population II distance indicators thanks to their well-defined period-luminosity relations (PLRs) at infrared wavelengths. We present results of near-infrared (NIR) monitoring of Galactic globular clusters to empirically quantify the metallicity dependence of NIR PLRs for RR Lyrae variables. Our sample includes homogeneous, accurate, and precise photometric data for 964 RR Lyrae variables in 11 globular clusters covering a large metallicity range (Δ[Fe/H] ∼ 2 dex). We derive JHKs -band period-luminosity-metallicity (PLZ) and period-Wesenheit-metallicity (PWZ) relations anchored using 346 Milky Way field RR Lyrae stars with Gaia parallaxes, and simultaneously solved for independent distances to globular clusters. We find a significant metallicity dependence of ∼0.2 mag dex−1 in the JHKs -band PLZ and PWZ relations for RR Lyrae stars independent of the adopted metallicity scale. The metallicity coefficients and the zero-points of the empirical PLZ and PWZ relations are in excellent agreement with the predictions from the horizontal branch evolution and pulsation models. Furthermore, RR Lyrae-based distances to our sample of globular clusters are also statistically consistent with other independent measurements in the literature. Our recommended empirical JHKs -band PLZ relations for RR Lyrae stars with periods of fundamental mode pulsation (Pf) are:formula presented

Original languageEnglish
Article numberL51
Pages (from-to)1-7
Number of pages7
JournalAstrophysical Journal Letters
Volume944
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2023

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

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