No Arabic abstract
In a step toward understanding the origin of the Galactic Halo, we have reexamined Type II Cepheids (T2C) in the field with new input from the second data release (DR2) of Gaia. For 45 T2C with periods from 1 to 20 days, parallaxes, proper motions, and [Fe/H] values are available for 25 stars. Only 5 show [Fe/H] < -1.5, while the remaining stars show thick disk kinematics and [Fe/H] > -0.90. We have compared the T2C stars of the field with their cousins in the globular clusters of the Halo and found that the globular clusters with T2C stars show metallicities and kinematics of a pure Halo population. The globulars may have formed during the overall collapse of the Galaxy while the individual thick disk T2C stars may have been captured from small systems that self-enriched prior to capture. The relationship of these two populations to the micro-galaxies currently recognized as surrounding the Galaxy is unclear.
The Galactic center (GC) is the densest region of the Milky Way. Variability surveys towards the GC potentially provide the largest number of variable stars per square degree within the Galaxy. However, high stellar density is also a drawback due to blending. Moreover, the GC is affected by extreme reddening, therefore near infrared observations are needed. We plan to detect new variable stars towards the GC, focusing on type II Cepheids (T2Cs) which have the advantage of being brighter than RR Lyrae stars. We perform parallel Lomb-Scargle and Generalized Lomb-Scargle periodogram analysis of the $K_s$-band time series of the VISTA variables in the Via Lactea survey, to detect periodicities. We employ statistical parameters to clean our sample. We take account of periods, light amplitudes, distances, and proper motions to provide a classification of the candidate variables. We detected 1,019 periodic variable stars, of which 164 are T2Cs, 210 are Miras and 3 are classical Cepheids. We also found the first anomalous Cepheid in this region. We compare their photometric properties with overlapping catalogs and discuss their properties on the color-magnitude and Bailey diagrams. We present the most extensive catalog of T2Cs in the GC region to date. Offsets in E($J-K_s$) and in the reddening law cause very large ($sim$1-2 kpc) uncertainties on distances in this region. We provide a catalog which will be the starting point for future spectroscopic surveys in the innermost regions of the Galaxy.
We discuss the observed pulsation properties of Type II Cepheids (TIICs) in the Galaxy and Magellanic Clouds. The period (P) distributions, luminosity amplitudes and population ratios of the three different sub-groups (BL Herculis[BLH, P<5 days], W Virginis [WV, 5<P<20 days], RV Tauri [RVT, P>20 days]) are quite similar in different stellar systems, suggesting a common evolutionary channel and a mild dependence on both metallicity and environment. We present a homogeneous theoretical framework based on Horizontal Branch (HB) evolutionary models, envisaging that TIICs are mainly old (t<10 Gyr), low-mass stars. The BLHs are predicted to be post early asymptotic giant branch (PEAGB) stars (double shell burning) on the verge of reaching their AGB track (first crossing of the instability strip), while WVs are a mix of PEAGB and post-AGB stars (hydrogen shell burning) moving from cool to hot (second crossing). Thus suggesting that they are a single group of variable stars. RVTs are predicted to be a mix of post-AGB stars along their second crossing (short-period tail) and thermally pulsing AGB stars (long-period tail) evolving towards their white dwarf cooling sequence. We also present several sets of synthetic HB models by assuming a bimodal mass distribution along the HB. Theory suggests, in agreement with observations, that TIIC pulsation properties marginally depend on metallicity. Predicted period distributions and population ratios for BLHs agree quite well with observations, while those for WVs and RVTs are almost a factor of two smaller and larger than observed, respectively. Moreover, the predicted period distributions for WVs peak at periods shorter than observed, while those for RVTs display a long period tail not supported by observations. We investigate several avenues to explain these differences, but more detailed calculations are required to address them.
Type II Cepheids are both useful distance indicators and tracers of old age stellar populations in their host galaxy. We summarize near-infrared observations of type II Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud and discuss the absolute calibration of their Period-Luminosity relations. Combining with the near-infrared data for type II Cepheids in the Galactic bulge from the VISTA VVV survey, we estimated a robust distance to the Galactic center. We found that type II Cepheids trace the spherically symmetric spatial distribution with possible evidence of ellipsoidal structure, similar to RR Lyrae stars. Together with Gaia and VVV proper motions, type II Cepheids were found to trace the old, metal-poor, kinematically hot stellar populations in the Galactic bulge.
Type II Cepheids (T2Cs) are radially pulsating variables that trace old stellar populations and provide distance estimates through their period-luminosity (PL) relation. We trace the structure of old stars in the Bulge using new distance estimates and kinematic properties of T2Cs. We present new NIR photometry of T2Cs in the bulge from the VVV survey. We provide the largest sample (894 stars) of T2Cs with JHKs observations that have accurate periods from the OGLE catalog. Our analysis makes use of the Ks-band time-series to estimate mean magnitudes and distances by means of the PL relation. To constrain the kinematic properties of our targets, we complement our analysis with proper motions (PMs) based on both VVV and Gaia DR2. We derive an empirical Ks-band PL relation that depends on Galactic longitude and latitude: Ks0=(10.66+-0.02)-(2.21+-0.03)*(logP-1.2)-(0.020+-0.003)*l+(0.050+-0.008)*|b| mag; individual extinction corrections are based on a 3D reddening map. Our targets display a centrally concentrated distribution, with solid evidence of ellipsoidal symmetry--similar to the RR Lyrae (RRL) ellipsoid--and a few halo outliers up to >100 kpc. We obtain a distance from the Galactic center of R0=8.46+-0.03(stat.)+-0.11(syst.) kpc. We also find evidence that the bulge T2Cs belong to a kinematically hot population, as the tangential velocity components (sigma vl*=104.2+-3.0 km/s and sigma vb=96.8+-5.5 km/s) agree within 1.2sigma. Moreover, the difference between absolute and relative PM is in good agreement with the PM of Sgr A* from VLBA measures. We conclude that bulge T2Cs display an ellipsoidal distribution and have kinematics similar to RRLs, which are other tracers of the old, low-mass stellar population. T2Cs also provide an estimate of R0 that agrees excellently well with the literature, taking account of the reddening law.
We present the near-infrared observations of population II Cepheids in the Galactic bulge from VVV survey. We identify 340 population II Cepheids in the Galactic bulge from VVV survey based on their match with OGLE-III Catalogue. The single-epoch $JH$ and multi-epoch $K_s$ observations complement the accurate periods and optical $(VI)$ mean-magnitudes from OGLE. The sample consisting of BL Herculis and W Virginis subtypes is used to derive period-luminosity relations after correcting mean-magnitudes for the extinction. Our $K_s$-band period-luminosity relation, $K_s = -2.189(0.056)~[log(P) - 1] + 11.187(0.032)$, is consistent with published work for BL Herculis and W Virginis variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud. We present a combined OGLE-III and VVV catalogue with periods, classification, mean magnitudes and extinction for 264 Galactic bulge population II Cepheids having good-quality $K_s$-band light curves. The absolute magnitudes for population II Cepheids and RR Lyraes calibrated using Gaia and Hubble Space Telescope parallaxes, together with calibrated magnitudes for Large Magellanic Cloud population II Cepheids, are used to obtain a distance to the Galactic center, $R_0=8.34pm0.03{mathrm{(stat.)}}pm0.41{mathrm{(syst.)}}$, which changes by $^{+ 0.05}_{-0.25}$ with different extinction laws. While noting the limitation of small number statistics, we find that the present sample of population II Cepheids in the Galactic bulge shows a nearly spheroidal spatial distribution, similar to metal-poor RR Lyrae variables. We do not find evidence of the inclined bar as traced by the metal-rich red-clump stars. The number density for population II Cepheids is more limited as compared to abundant RR Lyraes but they are bright and exhibit a wide range in period that provides a robust period-luminosity relation for an accurate estimate of the distance to the Galactic center.