No Arabic abstract
Period-colour (PC) and amplitude-colour (AC) relations at maximum, mean and minimum light are constructed from a large grid of full amplitude hydrodynamic models of Cepheids with a composition appropriate for the SMC (Small Magellanic Cloud). We compare these theoretical relations with those from observations. The theoretical relations are in general good agreement with their observational counterparts though there exist some discrepancy for short period (log [P] < 1) Cepheids. We outline a physical mechanism which can, in principle, be one factor to explain the observed PC/AC relations for the long and short period Cepheids in the Galaxy, LMC and SMC. Our explanation relies on the hydrogen ionization front-photosphere interaction and the way this interaction changes with pulsation period, pulsation phase and metallicity. Since the PC relation is connected with the period-luminosity (PL) relation, it is postulated that such a mechanism can also explain the observed properties of the PL relation in these three galaxies.
We present Period-Luminosity and Period-Luminosity-Color relations at maximum-light for Mira variables in the Magellanic Clouds using time-series data from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE-III) and {it Gaia} data release 2. The maximum-light relations exhibit a scatter typically up to $sim 30%$ smaller than their mean-light counterparts. The apparent magnitudes of Oxygen-rich Miras at maximum-light display significantly smaller cycle-to-cycle variations than at minimum-light. High-precision photometric data for Kepler Mira candidates also exhibit stable magnitude variations at the brightest epochs while their multi-epoch spectra display strong Balmer emission lines and weak molecular absorption at maximum-light. The stability of maximum-light magnitudes for Miras possibly occurs due to the decrease in the sensitivity to molecular bands at their warmest phase. At near-infrared wavelengths, the Period-Luminosity relations of Miras display similar dispersion at mean and maximum-light with limited time-series data in the Magellanic Clouds. A kink in the Oxygen-rich Mira Period-Luminosity relations is found at 300 days in the $VI$-bands which shifts to longer-periods ($sim 350$~days) at near-infrared wavelengths. Oxygen-rich Mira Period-Luminosity relations at maximum-light provide a relative distance modulus, $Delta mu = 0.48pm0.08$~mag, between the Magellanic Clouds with a smaller statistical uncertainty than the mean-light relations. The maximum-light properties of Miras can be very useful for stellar atmosphere modeling and distance scale studies provided their stability and the universality can be established in other stellar environments in the era of extremely large telescopes.
Distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is determined using the Cepheid variables in the LMC. We combine the individual LMC Cepheid distances obtained from the infrared surface brightness method and a dataset with a large number of LMC Cepheids. Using the standard least squares method, the LMC distance modulus can be found from the ZP offsets of these two samples. We have adopted both a linear P-L relation and a ``broken P-L relation in our calculations. The resulting LMC distance moduli are 18.48+-0.03 mag and 18.49+-0.04 mag (random error only), respectively, which are consistent to the adopted 18.50 mag in the literature.
In spite of the relevance of Classical Cepheids as primary distance indicators, a general consensus on the dependence of the Period-Luminosity (PL) relation on the Cepheid chemical composition has not been achieved yet. From the theoretical point of view, our previous investigations were able to reproduce some empirical tests for suitable assumptions on the helium to metal relative enrichment, but those results relied on specific assumptions concerning the Mass-Luminosity relation and the efficiency of the convective transfer in the pulsating envelopes. In this paper, we investigate the effects of the assumed value of the mixing length parameter l/Hp on the pulsation properties and we release the assumption of a fixed Mass-Luminosity relation. As a whole, we show that our pulsation relations appear fully consistent with the observed properties of Galactic and Magellanic Cloud Cepheids, supporting the predicted steepening and brightening of the PL relations when moving from metal-rich to metal-poor variables. Moreover, we show that the distances inferred by the predicted PW relations agree with recently measured trigonometric parallaxes, whereas they suggest a correction to the values based on the Infrared Surface Brightness technique, as already found from an independent method. Finally, also the pulsation metal contents suggested by the predicted PW relations appear in statistical agreement with spectroscopic [Fe/H] measurements.
Field reddenings are summarized for 68 Cepheids from published studies and updated results presented here. The compilation forms the basis for a comparison with other published reddening scales of Cepheids, including those established from reddening-independent indices, photometry on the Lick six-color system, Str{o}mgren system, Walraven system, Washington system, Cape $BVI$ system, DDO system, and Geneva system, IRSB studies, and Cepheid spectroscopy, both old and new. Reddenings tied to period-color relations are the least reliable, as expected, while photometric color excesses vary in precision, their accuracy depending on the methodology and calibration sample. The tests provide insights into the accuracy and precision of published Cepheid reddening scales, and lead to a new system of standardized reddenings comprising a sample of 198 variables with an average uncertainty of $pm0.028$ in E$_{B-V}$, the precision being less than $pm0.01$ for many. The collected color excesses are used to map the dispersion in intrinsic colors as a function of pulsation period, the results contradicting current perceptions about the period dependence of dispersion in Cepheid effective temperatures.
The photometric data for 460 classical, fundamental-mode Cepheids in the SMC with log P > 0.4 measured by Udalski et al. have been analyzed for their P-C and P-L relations, and for the variation of amplitude across the instability strip in a similar way that was done in Papers I and II of this series. The SMC Cepheids are bluer in (B-V) at a given period than for both the Galaxy and the LMC. Their P-C relation in (B-V) is best fit by two lines intersecting at P=10 d. Their break must necessarily exist also in the P-L relations in B and/or V, but remains hidden in the magnitude scatter. An additional pronounced break of the P-L relations in B, V, and I occurs at P=2.5 d. The observed slope of the lines of constant period in the HR diagram agrees with the theoretical expectation from the pulsation equation. The largest amplitude Cepheids for periods less than 13 days occur near the blue edge of the instability strip. The sense is reversed in the period interval from 13 to 20 days, as in the Galaxy and the LMC. The SMC P-L relation is significantly flatter than that for the Galaxy, NGC 3351, 4321, M31, all of which have nearly the same steep slope. The SMC P-L slope is intermediate between that of these steep slope cases and the very shallow slope of Cepheids in the lower metallicity galaxies of NGC 3109 and Sextans A/B, consistent with the premise that the Cepheid P-L relation varies from galaxy-to-galaxy as function of metallicity. Failure to take into account the slope differences in the P-L relation as a function of metallicity using Cepheids as distance indicators results in incorrect Cepheid distances. Part of the 15% difference between our long distance scale - now independently supported by TRGB distances - and that of the HST Key Project short scale is due to the effect of using an inappropriate P-L relation.