3,285 research outputs found
The Pulsation Mode and Distance of the Cepheid FF Aquilae
The determination of pulsation mode and distance for field Cepheids is a
complicated problem best resolved by a luminosity estimate. For illustration a
technique based on spectroscopic luminosity discrimination is applied to the
4.47d s-Cepheid FF Aql. Line ratios in high dispersion spectra of the variable
yield values of =-3.40+-0.02 s.e.(+-0.04 s.d.), average effective
temperature Teff=6195+-24 K, and intrinsic color (-)o = +0.506+-0.007,
corresponding to a reddening of E(B-V)=0.25+-0.01, or E(B-V)(B0)=0.26+-0.01.
The skewed light curve, intrinsic color, and luminosity of FF Aql are
consistent with fundamental mode pulsation for a small amplitude classical
Cepheid on the blue side of the instability strip, not a sinusoidal pulsator. A
distance of 413+-14 pc is estimated from the Cepheid's angular diameter in
conjunction with a mean radius of =39.0+-0.7 Rsun inferred from its
luminosity and effective temperature. The dust extinction towards FF Aql is
described by a ratio of total-to-selective extinction of
Rv=Av/E(B-V)=3.16+-0.34 according to the star's apparent distance modulus.Comment: To appear in ApJ
Rate of Period Change as a Diagnostic of Cepheid Properties
Rate of period change for a Cepheid is shown to be a parameter that
is capable of indicating the instability strip crossing mode for individual
objects, and, in conjunction with light amplitude, likely location within the
instability strip. Observed rates of period change in over 200 Milky Way
Cepheids are demonstrated to be in general agreement with predictions from
stellar evolutionary models, although the sample also displays features that
are inconsistent with some published models and indicative of the importance of
additional factors not fully incorporated in models to date.Comment: Published in PASP (March 2006); TeX source & figures now provide
Does Collinder 236 host a Cepheid calibrator?
Photoelectric UBV photometry and star counts are presented for the previously
unstudied open cluster Collinder 236, supplemented by observations for stars
near the Cepheid WZ Car. Collinder 236 is typical of groups associated with
Cepheids, with an evolutionary age of (3.4+-1.1)x10^7 years, but it is 1944+-71
pc distant, only half the predicted distance to WZ Car. The cluster is reddened
by E(B-V)~0.26, and has nuclear and coronal radii of rn~2 arcmin (1.1 pc) and
Rc~8 arcmin (4.5 pc), respectively. The Cepheid is not a member of Collinder
236 on the basis of location beyond the cluster tidal radius and implied
distance, but its space reddening can be established as E(B-V)=0.268+-0.006
s.e. from 5 adjacent stars. Period changes in WZ Car studied with the aid of
archival data are revised. The period of WZ Car is increasing, its rate of
+8.27+-0.19 s yr^(-1) being consistent with a third crossing of the instability
strip.Comment: Accepted for publication (MNRAS
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