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2271. RR Lyrae candidates in the MW outer halo
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/849/150
Title:
RR Lyrae candidates in the MW outer halo
Short Name:
J/ApJ/849/150
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
RR Lyrae stars are ideal massless tracers that can be used to study the total mass and dark matter content of the outer halo of the Milky Way (MW). This is because they are easy to find in the light-curve databases of large stellar surveys and their distances can be determined with only knowledge of the light curve. We present here a sample of 112 RR Lyr stars beyond 50kpc in the outer halo of the MW, excluding the Sgr streams, for which we have obtained moderate-resolution spectra with Deimos on the Keck II Telescope. Four of these have distances exceeding 100kpc. These were selected from a much larger set of 447 candidate RR Lyr stars that were data-mined using machine-learning techniques applied to the light curves of variable stars in the Palomar Transient Facility database. The observed radial velocities taken at the phase of the variable corresponding to the time of observation were converted to systemic radial velocities in the Galactic standard of rest. From our sample of 112 RR Lyr stars we determine the radial velocity dispersion in the outer halo of the MW to be ~90km/s at 50kpc, falling to about 65km/s near 100 kpc once a small number of major outliers are removed. With reasonable estimates of the completeness of our sample of 447 candidates and assuming a spherical halo, we find that the stellar density in the outer halo declines as r^-4^.
2272. RR Lyrae in M32
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/425/1459
Title:
RR Lyrae in M32
Short Name:
J/MNRAS/425/1459
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We present time series photometry of two fields near M32 using archival observations from the Advanced Camera for Surveys Wide Field Channel on-board the Hubble Space Telescope. One field is centred about 2arcmin from M32, while the other is located 15arcmin to the south-east of M31. The imaging covers a time baseline sufficient for the identification and characterization of a total number of 1139 RR Lyrae variables of which 821 are ab-type and 318 are c-type.
2273. RR Lyrae in M62 (NGC6266)
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/140/1766
Title:
RR Lyrae in M62 (NGC6266)
Short Name:
J/AJ/140/1766
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We present new time-series CCD photometry, in the B and V bands, for the moderately metal-rich ([Fe/H]=~-1.3) Galactic globular cluster M62 (NGC 6266). The present data set is the largest obtained so far for this cluster and consists of 168 images per filter, obtained with the Warsaw 1.3m telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory and the 1.3m telescope of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, in two separate runs over the time span of 3 months.
2274. RR Lyrae in omega Cen
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/574/A15
Title:
RR Lyrae in omega Cen
Short Name:
J/A+A/574/A15
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We present a survey of RR Lyrae stars in an area of 50deg^2^ around the globular cluster {omega} Centauri, aimed at detecting debris material from the alleged progenitor galaxy of the cluster. We detected 48 RR Lyrae stars, only 11 of which have been previously reported. Ten of the eleven previously known stars were found inside the tidal radius of the cluster. The rest were located outside the tidal radius up to distances of ~6-degrees from the center of the cluster. Several of these stars are located at distances similar to that of {omega} Centauri. We investigate the probability that they may have been stripped off the cluster. To do this, we studied their properties (mean periods) by calculating the expected halo and thick-disk population of RR Lyrae stars in this part of the sky, analyzing the radial velocity of a sub-sample of the RR Lyrae stars, and finally, studying the probable orbits of this sub-sample around the Galaxy. The results of these investigations do not support the scenario that there is significant tidal debris around {omega} Centauri, which confirms previous studies on the region. It is puzzling that tidal debris has been found elsewhere but not near the cluster itself.
2275. RR Lyrae in SDSS Stripe 82
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/424/2528
Title:
RR Lyrae in SDSS Stripe 82
Short Name:
J/MNRAS/424/2528
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We propose a robust principal component analysis framework for the exploitation of multiband photometric measurements in large surveys. Period search results are improved using the time-series of the first principal component due to its optimized signal-to-noise ratio. The presence of correlated excess variations in the multivariate time-series enables the detection of weaker variability. Furthermore, the direction of the largest variance differs for certain types of variable stars. This can be used as an efficient attribute for classification. The application of the method to a subsample of Sloan Digital Sky Survey Stripe 82 data yielded 132 high-amplitude delta Scuti variables. We also found 129 new RR Lyrae variables, complementary to the catalogue of Sesar et al., extending the halo area mapped by Stripe 82 RR Lyrae stars towards the Galactic bulge. The sample also comprises 25 multiperiodic or Blazhko RR Lyrae stars.
2276. RR Lyrae members of the Pal 5 stellar stream
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/158/223
Title:
RR Lyrae members of the Pal 5 stellar stream
Short Name:
J/AJ/158/223
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
Thin stellar streams, formed from the tidal disruption of globular clusters, are important gravitational tools, sensitive to both global and small-scale properties of dark matter. The Palomar 5 stellar stream (Pal 5) is an exemplar stream within the Milky Way: its ~20{deg} tidal tails connect back to the progenitor cluster, and the stream has been used to study the shape, total mass, and substructure fraction of the dark matter distribution of the Galaxy. However, most details of the phase-space distribution of the stream are not fully explained, and dynamical models that use the stream for other inferences are therefore incomplete. Here we aim to measure distance and kinematic properties along the Pal 5 stream in order to motivate improved models of the system. We use a large catalog of RR Lyrae-type stars (RRLs) with astrometric data from the Gaia mission to probabilistically identify RRLs in the Pal 5 stream. RRLs are useful because they are intrinsically luminous standard candles and their distances can be inferred with small relative precision (~3%). By building a probabilistic model of the Pal 5 cluster and stream in proper motion and distance, we find 27 RRLs consistent with being members of the cluster (10) and stream (17). Using these RRLs, we detect gradients in distance and proper motion along the stream, and provide an updated measurement of the distance to the Pal 5 cluster using the RRLs, d=20.6+/-0.2 kpc. We provide a catalog of Pal 5 RRLs with inferred membership probabilities for future modeling work.
2277. RR Lyrae parallaxes & proper motions
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/330/515
Title:
RR Lyrae parallaxes & proper motions
Short Name:
J/A+A/330/515
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We have used HIPPARCOS proper motions and the method of Statistical Parallax to estimate the absolute magnitude of RR Lyrae stars. In addition we used the HIPPARCOS parallax of RR Lyrae itself to determine it's absolute magnitude. These two results are in excellent agreement with each other and give a zero-point for the RR Lyrae M_v_,[Fe/H] relation of 0.77+/-0.15 at [Fe/H]=-1.53. This zero-point is in good agreement with that obtained recently by several groups using Baade-Wesselink methods which, averaged over the results from the different groups, gives M_v_=0.73+/-0.14 at [Fe/H]=-1.53. Taking the HIPPARCOS based zero-point and a value of 0.18+/-0.03 for the slope of the M_v_,[Fe/H] relation from the literature we find firstly, the distance modulus of the LMC is 18.26+/-0.15 and secondly, the mean age of the Globular Clusters is 17.4+/-3.0 GYrs. These values are compared with recent estimates based on other "standard candles" that have also been calibrated with HIPPARCOS data. It is clear that, in addition to astrophysical problems, there are also problems in the application of HIPPARCOS data that are not yet fully understood.
2278. RR Lyrae population in the Phoenix dwarf galaxy
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/786/147
Title:
RR Lyrae population in the Phoenix dwarf galaxy
Short Name:
J/ApJ/786/147
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We present the first detailed study of the RR Lyrae variable population in the Local Group dSph/dIrr transition galaxy, Phoenix, using previously obtained HST/WFPC2 observations of the galaxy. We utilize template light curve fitting routines to obtain best fit light curves for RR Lyrae variables in Phoenix. Our technique has identified 78 highly probable RR Lyrae stars (54 ab-type; 24 c-type) with about 40 additional candidates. We find mean periods for the two populations of <P_ab_>=0.60+/-0.03 days and <P_c_>=0.353+/-0.002 days. We use the properties of these light curves to extract, among other things, a metallicity distribution function for ab-type RR Lyrae. Our analysis yields a mean metallicity of <[Fe/H]>=-1.68+/-0.06 dex for the RRab stars. From the mean period and metallicity calculated from the ab-type RR Lyrae, we conclude that Phoenix is more likely of intermediate Oosterhoff type; however the morphology of the Bailey diagram for Phoenix RR Lyraes appears similar to that of an Oosterhoff type I system. Using the RRab stars, we also study the chemical enrichment law for Phoenix. We find that our metallicity distribution is reasonably well fitted by a closed-box model. The parameters of this model are compatible with the findings of Hidalgo et al. (2009ApJ...705..704H; 2013ApJ...778..103H), further supporting the idea that Phoenix appears to have been chemically enriched as a closed-box-like system during the early stage of its formation and evolution.
2279. RR Lyraes in SDSS stripe 82
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/398/1757
Title:
RR Lyraes in SDSS stripe 82
Short Name:
J/MNRAS/398/1757
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We present an analysis of the substructure revealed by RR Lyraes in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Stripe 82, which covers 2.5{deg} in declination on the celestial equator over the right ascension range {alpha}=20.7h to 3.3h. We use the new public archive of light-motion curves in Stripe 82, published by Bramich et al. in 2008 (Cat. V/141), to identify a set of high-quality RR Lyrae candidates. Period estimates are determined to high accuracy using a string-length method. A subset of 178 RR Lyraes with spectrally derived metallicities are employed to derive metallicity-period-amplitude relations, which are then used, together with archive magnitude data and light-curve Fourier decomposition, to estimate metallicities and hence distances for the entire sample. The RR Lyraes lie 5-115kpc from the Galactic Centre, with distance estimates accurate to ~8%. The RR Lyraes are further divided into subsets of 316 RRab types and 91 RRc types based on their period, colour and metallicity. We fit a smooth density law to the distribution as a simple representation of the data. For Galactocentric radii 5-25kpc the number density of RR Lyraes falls as r^-2.4^, but beyond 25kpc, the number density falls much more steeply, as r^-4.5^. However, we stress that in practice the density distribution is not smooth, but dominated by clumps and substructure. Samples of 55 and 237 RR Lyraes associated with the Sagittarius Stream and the Hercules-Aquila Cloud, respectively, are identified. Hence, ~70% of the RR Lyraes in Stripe 82 belong to known substructure, and the sharp break in the density law reflects the fact that the dominant substructure in Stripe 82 - the Hercules-Aquila Cloud and the Sagittarius Stream - lie within 40kpc. In fact, almost 60% of all the RR Lyraes in Stripe 82 are associated with the Hercules-Aquila Cloud alone, which emphasizes the cloud's pre-eminence. Additionally, evidence of a new and distant substructure - the Pisces Overdensity - is found, consisting of 28 faint RR Lyraes centred on Galactic coordinates (l~80{deg}, b~-55{deg}), with distances of ~80kpc. The total stellar mass in the Pisces Overdensity is ~10^4^M_{sun}_ and its metallicity is [Fe/H]~-1.5.
2280. RR Lyrae star candidates from SDSS-DR15
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/246/8
Title:
RR Lyrae star candidates from SDSS-DR15
Short Name:
J/ApJS/246/8
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
With the increase of known RR Lyrae stars, it is reliable to create classifiers of RR Lyrae stars based on their photometric data or combined photometric and spectroscopic data. Nevertheless the total number of known RR Lyrae stars is still too small compared with the large survey databases. So classification of RR Lyrae stars and other sources belongs to imbalanced learning. Based on Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometric and spectroscopic data, we apply cost-sensitive Random Forests fit for imbalanced learning to preselect RR Lyrae star candidates. Only with photometric data, u-g,g-r,r-i,i-z is the best input pattern. While also considering physical parameters (Teff, [Fe/H], log(g)), the optimal input pattern is Teff, [Fe/H], log(g), u-g,g-r,r-i,i-z, at this moment for cost-sensitive Random Forests, the performance metrics of completeness, contamination, and Matthews correlation coefficient are 0.975, 0.019, and 0.975, respectively. It indicates that adding stellar physical parameters is helpful for identifying RR Lyrae stars from other stars. We apply the best classifiers on the SDSS photometric data and combined photometric data with physical parameters to select RR Lyrae star candidates. Finally 11,041 photometric candidates with spectral type A and F are obtained, and then 304 candidates with physical parameters are selected out. Among the 304 candidates, a small part are HB stars, BS stars, RGB stars, and peculiar stars, and the rest are unknown in the Simbad database. These candidates may be used as the input catalog for time-series follow-up observations.