• Title/Summary/Keyword: RR Lyrae

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GAIA PARALLAX ZERO POINT FROM RR LYRAE STARS

  • Gould, Andrew;Kollmeier, Juna A.
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.50 no.1
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    • pp.1-5
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    • 2017
  • Like Hipparcos, Gaia is designed to give absolute parallaxes, independent of any astrophysical reference system. And indeed, Gaia's internal zero-point error for parallaxes is likely to be smaller than any individual parallax error. Nevertheless, due in part to mechanical issues of unknown origin, there are many astrophysical questions for which the parallax zero-point error ${\sigma}({\pi}_0)$ will be the fundamentally limiting constraint. These include the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Galactic Center. We show that by using the photometric parallax estimates for RR Lyrae stars (RRL) within 8kpc, via the ultra-precise infrared period-luminosity relation, one can independently determine a hyper-precise value for ${\pi}_0$. Despite their paucity relative to bright quasars, we show that RRL are competitive due to their order-of-magnitude improved parallax precision for each individual object relative to bright quasars. We show that this method is mathematically robust and well-approximated by analytic formulae over a wide range of relevant distances.

THEORETICAL STUDY ON OBSERVED COLOR-MAGNITUDE DIAGRAMS

  • Lee, See-Woo
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.12 no.1
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    • pp.41-70
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    • 1979
  • From $B\ddot{o}hm$-Vitense's atmospheric model calculations, the relations, [$T_e$, (B-V)] and [B.C, (B-V)] with respect to heavy element abundance were obtained. Using these relations and evolutionary model calculations of Rood, and Sweigart and Gross, analytic expressions for some physical parameters relating to the C-M diagrams of globular clusters were derived, and they were applied to 21 globular clusters with observed transition periods of RR Lyrae variables. More than 20 different parameters were examined for each globular cluster. The derived ranges of some basic parameters are as follows; $Y=0.21{\sim}0.33,\;Z=1.5{\times}10^{-4}{\sim}4.5{\times}10^{-3},\;age,\;t=9.5{\sim}19{\times}10^9$ years, mass for red giants, $m_{RG}=0.74m_{\odot}{\sim}0.91m_{\odot}$, mass for RR Lyrae stars, $m_{RR}=0.59m_{\odot}{\sim}0.75m_{\odot}$, the visual magnitude difference between the turnoff point and the horizontal branch (HB), ${\Delta}V_{to}=3.1{\sim}3.4(<{\Delta}V_{to}>=3.32)$, the color of the blue edge of RR Lyrae gap, $(B-V)_{BE}=0.17{\sim}0.21=(<(B-V)_{BE}>=0.18),\;[\frac{m}{L}]_{RR}=-1.7{\sim}-1.9$, mass difference of $m_{RR}$ relative to $m_{RG},(m_{RG}-m_{RR})/m_{RG}=0.0{\sim}0.39$. It was found that the ranges of derived parameters agree reasonably well with the observed ones and those estimated by others. Some important results obtained herein can be summarized as follows; (i) There are considerable variations in the initial helium abundance and in age of globular clusters. (ii) The radial gradient of heavy element abundance does exist for globular clusters as shown by Janes for field stars and open clusters. (iii) The helium abundance seems to have been increased with age by massive star evolution after a considerable amount (Y>0.2) of helium had been attained by the Big-Bang nucleosynthesis, but there is not seen a radial gradient of helium abundance. (iv) A considerable amount of heavy elements ($Z{\sim}10{-3}$) might have been formed in the inner halo ($r_{GC}$<10 kpc) from the earliest galactic co1lapse, and then the heavy element abundance has been slowly enriched towards the galactic center and disk, establishing the radial gradient of heavy element abundance. (v) The final galactic disk formation might have taken much longer by about a half of the galactic age than the halo formation, supporting a slow, inhomogeneous co1lapse model of Larson. (vi) Of the three principal parameters controlling the morphology of C-M diagrams, it was found that the first parameter is heavy clement abundance, the second age and the third helium abundance. (vii) The globular clusters can be divided into three different groups, AI, BI and CII according to Z, Y an d age as well as Dickens' HB types. BI group clusters of HB types 4 and 5 like M 3 and NGC 7006 are the oldest and have the lowest helium abundance of the three groups. And also they appear in the inner halo. On the other hand, the youngest AI clusters have the highest Z and Y, and appear in the innermost halo region and in the disk. (viii) From the result of the clean separations of the clusters into three groups, a three dimensional classification with three parameters, Z, Y and age is prsented. (ix) The anomalous C-M diagrams can be expalined in terms of the three principal parameters. That is, the anomaly of NGC 362 and NGC 7006 is accounted for by the smaller age of the order of $1{\sim}2{\times}10^9$ years rather than by the helium abundance difference, compared with M 3. (x) The difference in two Oosterhoff types I and II can be explained in terms of the mean mass difference of RR Lyrae variables rather than in terms of the helium abundance difference as suggested by Stobie. The mean mass of the variables in Oosterhoff type I clusters is smaller by $0.074m_{\odot}$ which is exactly consistent with Rood's estimate. Since it was found that the mean mass of RR Lyrae stars increases with decreasing Z, the two Oosterhoff types can be explained substantially by the metal abundance difference; the type II has Z<$3.4{\times}10^{-4}$, and the type I has higher Z than the type II.

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Carnegie Hubble Program II : Overview and Research Status

  • Yang, Soung-Chul
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.40 no.1
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    • pp.46.4-47
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    • 2015
  • Carnegie Hubble Program II (hereafter CHP II) is a large Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observing campaign in the cycle 22 composed of a total of 184 orbits (132 primes + 52 parallels), which aims to measure H0 directly with an unprecedented accuracy. Unlike our previous efforts in CHP I which used Cepheids as a yardstick, CHP II takes the Population II (Pop II) distance indicators such as RR Lyraes and tip of the red giant branch stars (TRGBs) to set up a new calibration to Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) distance. The Pop II distance scales have two immediate advantages over the classical Cepheid method: 1) The period-luminosity relation of the RR Lyrae has a scatter that is a factor of 2 smaller; 2) The RR Lyrae/TRGB distance scale can be applied to both elliptical and spiral galaxies. This will provide a great systematic benefit by ultimately allowing us to double the number of SN Ia distances based on geometry. By taking advantage of this Pop II route, we expect to measure H0 value to 3 % of error which will be the highest accuracy H0 measurement to date using the "Distance Ladder" method. In this talk I will present a brief background/overview on the CHP II, observations/data acquisition status, and ongoing research progress/preliminary results.

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On the Origin of the Oosterhoff Dichotomy among Globular Clusters and Dwarf Galaxies

  • Jang, Sohee;Lee, Young-Wook;Joo, Seok-Joo;Na, Chongsam
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.39 no.2
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    • pp.67.2-67.2
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    • 2014
  • The presence of multiple populations is now well-established in most globular clusters in the Milky Way. In light of this progress, here we suggest a new model explaining the origin of the Sandage period-shift and the difference in mean period of type ab RR Lyrae variables between the two Oosterhoff groups. In our models, the instability strip in the metal-poor group II clusters, such as M15, is populated by second generation stars (G2) with enhanced helium and CNO abundances, while the RR Lyraes in the relatively metal-rich group I clusters like M3 are mostly produced by first generation stars (G1) without these enhancements. This population shift within the instability strip with metallicity can create the observed period-shift between the two groups, since both helium and CNO abundances play a role in increasing the period of RR Lyrae variables. The presence of more metal-rich clusters having Oosterhoff-intermediate characteristics, such as NGC 1851, as well as of most metal-rich clusters having RR Lyraes with longest periods (group III) can also be reproduced, as more helium-rich third and later generations of stars (G3) penetrate into the instability strip with further increase in metallicity. Therefore, although there are systems where the suggested population shift cannot be a viable explanation, for the most general cases, our models predict that the RR Lyraes are produced mostly by G1, G2, and G3, respectively, for the Oosterhoff groups I, II, and III.

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