BVRIJK light curves and radial velocity curves for selected Magellanic Cloud Cepheids

We present high precision and well sampled BVRIJK light curves and radial velocity curves for a sample of five Cepheids in the SMC. In addition we present radial velocity curves for three Cepheids in the LMC. The low metallicity (Fe/H ~ -0.7) SMC stars have been selected for use in a Baade-Wesselink type analysis to constrain the metallicity effect on the Cepheid Period-Luminosity relation. The stars have periods of around 15 days so they are similar to the Cepheids observed by the Extragalactic Distance Scale Key Project on the Hubble Space Telescope. We show that the stars are representative of the SMC Cepheid population at that period and thus will provide a good sample for the proposed analysis. The actual Baade-Wesselink analysis are presented in a companion paper.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 23 pages, 10 figures, data tables will be made available electronically from the CD

Direct Distances to Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud: Evidence for a Universal Slope of the Period-Luminosity Relation up to Solar Abundance

We have applied the infrared surface brightness (ISB) technique to derive distances to 13 Cepheids in the LMC which span a period range from 3 to 42 days. From the absolute magnitudes of the variables calculated from these distances, we find that the LMC Cepheids define tight period-luminosity relations in the V, I, W, J and K bands which agree exceedingly well with the corresponding Galactic PL relations derived from the same technique, and are significantly steeper than the LMC PL relations in these bands observed by the OGLE-II Project in V, I and W, and by Persson et al. in J and K. We find that the tilt-corrected true distance moduli of the LMC Cepheids show a significant dependence on period, which hints at a systematic error in the ISB technique related to the period of the stars. We identify as the most likely culprit the p-factor which converts the radial into pulsational velocities; our data imply a much steeper period dependence of the p-factor than previously thought, and we derive p=1.58 (+/-0.02) -0.15 (+/-0.05) logP as the best fit from our data, with a zero point tied to the Milky Way open cluster Cepheids. Using this revised p-factor law, the period dependence of the LMC Cepheid distance moduli disappears, and at the same time the Milky Way and LMC PL relations agree among themselves, and with the directly observed LMC PL relations, within the 1 sigma uncertainties. Our main conclusion is that the previous, steeper Galactic PL relations were caused by an erroneous calibration of the p-factor law, and that there is now evidence that the slope of the Cepheid PL relation is independent of metallicity up to solar metallicity, in both optical, and near-infrared bands.Comment: ApJ accepte

The \u3ci\u3ePesticides and Farmworker Health Toolkit\u3c/i\u3e: An Innovative Model for Developing an Evidence-Informed Program for a Low-Literacy, Latino Immigrant Audience

Migrant and seasonal farmworkers are typically Spanish-speaking, Latino immigrants with limited formal education and low literacy skills and, as such, are a vulnerable population. We describe the development of the Pesticides and Farmworker Health Toolkit, a pesticide safety and health curriculum designed to communicate to farmworkers pesticide hazards found in their working environments. Using evidence-informed principles, the Toolkit curriculum for low-literacy, Latino farmworkers and its developmental process described herein serve as an innovative and useful model for Extension programming with non-traditional audiences

A New Calibration Of Galactic Cepheid Period-Luminosity Relations From B To K Bands, And A Comparison To LMC Relations

Context. The universality of the Cepheid period-luminosity (PL) relations has been under discussion since metallicity effects were assumed to play a role in the value of the intercept and, more recently, of the slope of these relations. Aims. The goal of the present study is to calibrate the Galactic PL relations in various photometric bands (from B to K) and to compare the results to the well-established PL relations in the LMC. Methods. We use a set of 59 calibrating stars, the distances of which are measured using five different distance indicators: Hubble Space Telescope and revised Hipparcos parallaxes, infrared surface brightness and interferometric Baade-Wesselink parallaxes, and classical Zero-Age-Main-Sequence-fitting parallaxes for Cepheids belonging to open clusters or OB stars associations. A detailed discussion of absorption corrections and projection factor to be used is given. Results. We find no significant difference in the slopes of the PL relations between LMC and our Galaxy. Conclusions. We conclude that the Cepheid PL relations have universal slopes in all photometric bands, not depending on the galaxy under study (at least for LMC and Milky Way). The possible zero-point variation with metal content is not discussed in the present work, but an upper limit of 18.50 for the LMC distance modulus can be deduced from our data.McDonald Observator

A pulsational approach to near infrared and visual magnitudes of RR Lyrae stars

In this paper we present an improved theoretical scenario concerning near infrared and visual magnitudes of RR Lyrae variables, as based on up-to-date pulsating models. On this basis, we revisit the case of the prototype variable RR Lyr, showing that the parallax inferred by this new pulsational approach appears in close agreement with HST absolute parallax. Moreover, available K and V measurements for field and cluster RR Lyrae variables with known reddening and metal content are used to derive a relation connecting the K absolute magnitude to period and metallicity, as well as a new calibration of the M_V-[Fe/H] relation. The comparison between theoretical prescriptions and observations suggests that RR Lyrae stars in the field and in Galactic Globular Clusters should have quite similar evolutionary histories. The comparison between theory and observations also discloses a general agreement that supports the reliability of current pulsational scenario. On the contrary, current empirical absolute magnitudes based on the Baade-Wesselink (BW) method suggest relations with a zero-point that is fainter than predicted by pulsation models, together with a milder metallicity dependence. However, preliminary results based on a new calibration of the BW method provided by Cacciari et al. (2000) for RR Cet and SW And appear in a much better agreement with the pulsational predictions.Comment: 11 pages, 9 postscript figures, accepted for publication on MNRA

Is There a Difference in Luminosity between Field and Cluster RR Lyrae Variables?

Recent Hipparcos results have lent support to the idea that RR Lyrae variables in the halo field and in globular clusters differ in luminosity by ~0.2mag. In this Letter, we study the pulsation properties of RR Lyraes in clusters with distances determined via main-sequence fitting to Hipparcos parallaxes for field subdwarfs, and compare them with the properties of field variables also analyzed with Hipparcos. We show that the period-temperature distributions for field and cluster variables are essentially indistinguishable, thus suggesting that there is no significant difference in luminosity between them.Comment: 11 pages, including three embedded figures and one table. ApJ (Letters), in pres

Cepheid variables in the LMC cluster NGC 1866. I. New BVRI CCD photometry

We report BV(RI)c CCD photometric data for a group of seven Cepheid variables in the young, rich cluster NGC 1866 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The photometry was obtained as part of a program to determine accurate distances to these Cepheids by means of the infrared surface brightness technique, and to improve the LMC Cepheid database for constructing Cepheid PL and PLC relations. Using the new data together with data from the literature, we have determined improved periods for all variables. For five fundamental mode pulsators, the light curves are now of excellent quality and will lead to accurate distance and radius determinations once complete infrared light curves and radial velocity curves for these variables become available.Comment: To appear in ApJ Supp., AASTeX, 24 pages, 8 tables, 8 figure

Physical parameters and the projection factor of the classical Cepheid in the binary system OGLE-LMC-CEP-0227

A novel method of analysis of double-lined eclipsing binaries containing a radially pulsating star is presented. The combined pulsating-eclipsing light curve is built up from a purely eclipsing light curve grid created using an existing modeling tool. For every pulsation phase the instantaneous radius and surface brightness are taken into account, being calculated from the disentangled radial velocity curve of the pulsating star and from its out-of-eclipse pulsational light curve and the light ratio of the components, respectively. The best model is found using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. The method is applied to the eclipsing binary Cepheid OGLE-LMC-CEP-0227 (P_puls = 3.80 d, P_orb = 309 d). We analyze a set of new spectroscopic and photometric observations for this binary, simultaneously fitting OGLE V-band, I-band and Spitzer 3.6 {\mu}m photometry. We derive a set of fundamental parameters of the system significantly improving the precision comparing to the previous results obtained by our group. The Cepheid mass and radius are M_1 = 4.165 +/- 0.032 M_solar and R_1 = 34.92 +/- 0.34 R_solar, respectively. For the first time a direct, geometrical and distance-independent determination of the Cepheid projection factor is presented. The value p = 1.21 +/- 0.03(stat.) +/- 0.04(syst.) is consistent with theoretical expectations for a short period Cepheid and interferometric measurements for {\delta} Cep. We also find a very high value of the optical limb darkening coefficients for the Cepheid component, in strong disagreement with theoretical predictions for static atmospheres at a given surface temperature and gravity.Comment: 16 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Assessing direct contributions of morphological awareness and prosodic sensitivity to children’s word reading and reading comprehension

We examined the independent contributions of prosodic sensitivity and morphological awareness to word reading, text reading accuracy, and reading comprehension. We did so in a longitudinal study of English-speaking children (N = 70). At 5 to 7 years of age, children completed the metalinguistic measures along with control measures of phonological awareness and vocabulary. Children completed the reading measures two years later. Morphological awareness, but not prosodic sensitivity made a significant independent contribution to word reading, text reading accuracy and reading comprehension. The effects of morphological awareness on reading comprehension remained after controls for word reading. These results suggest that morphological awareness needs to be considered seriously in models of reading development and that prosodic sensitivity might have primarily indirect relations to reading outcomes. Keywords: Morphological Awareness; Prosody; Word Reading; Reading Comprehension

Absolute Determination of the 22Na(p,g) Reaction Rate in Novae

Gamma-ray telescopes in orbit around the Earth are searching for evidence of the elusive radionuclide 22Na produced in novae. Previously published uncertainties in the dominant destructive reaction, 22Na(p,g)23Mg, indicated new measurements in the proton energy range of 150 to 300 keV were needed to constrain predictions. We have measured the resonance strengths, energies, and branches directly and absolutely by using protons from the University of Washington accelerator with a specially designed beamline, which included beam rastering and cold vacuum protection of the 22Na implanted targets. The targets, fabricated at TRIUMF-ISAC, displayed minimal degradation over a ~ 20 C bombardment as a result of protective layers. We avoided the need to know the stopping power, and hence the target composition, by extracting resonance strengths from excitation functions integrated over proton energy. Our measurements revealed that resonance strengths for E_p = 213, 288, 454, and 610 keV are stronger by factors of 2.4 to 3.2 than previously reported. Upper limits have been placed on proposed resonances at 198-, 209-, and 232-keV. We have re-evaluated the 22Na(p,g) reaction rate, and our measurements indicate the resonance at 213 keV makes the most significant contribution to 22Na destruction in novae. Hydrodynamic simulations including our rate indicate that the expected abundance of 22Na ejecta from a classical nova is reduced by factors between 1.5 and 2, depending on the mass of the white-dwarf star hosting the nova explosion.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures; shortened paper, accepted in Phys. Rev.