Gaia Data Release 1. Testing parallaxes with local Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars

Gaia Collaboration; Denise Lorenz

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201629925

Gaia Data Release 1. Testing parallaxes with local Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars

Gaia Collaboration
, Denise Lorenz

Department of Astrophysics

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Abstract

Context. Parallaxes for 331 classical Cepheids, 31 Type II Cepheids, and 364 RR Lyrae stars in common between Gaia and the Hipparcos and Tycho-2 catalogues are published in Gaia Data Release 1 (DR1) as part of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS). Aims: In order to test these first parallax measurements of the primary standard candles of the cosmological distance ladder, which involve astrometry collected by Gaia during the initial 14 months of science operation, we compared them with literature estimates and derived new period-luminosity (PL), period-Wesenheit (PW) relations for classical and Type II Cepheids and infrared PL, PL-metallicity (PLZ), and optical luminosity-metallicity (MV-[Fe/H]) relations for the RR Lyrae stars, with zero points based on TGAS. Methods: Classical Cepheids were carefully selected in order to discard known or suspected binary systems. The final sample comprises 102 fundamental mode pulsators with periods ranging from 1.68 to 51.66 days (of which 33 with σϖ/ϖ< 0.5). The Type II Cepheids include a total of 26 W Virginis and BL Herculis stars spanning the period range from 1.16 to 30.00 days (of which only 7 with σϖ/ϖ< 0.5). The RR Lyrae stars include 200 sources with pulsation period ranging from 0.27 to 0.80 days (of which 112 with σϖ/ϖ< 0.5). The new relations were computed using multi-band (V,I,J,Ks) photometry and spectroscopic metal abundances available in the literature, and by applying three alternative approaches: (I) linear least-squares fitting of the absolute magnitudes inferred from direct transformation of the TGAS parallaxes; (II) adopting astrometry-based luminosities; and (III) using a Bayesian fitting approach. The last two methods work in parallax space where parallaxes are used directly, thus maintaining symmetrical errors and allowing negative parallaxes to be used. The TGAS-based PL,PW,PLZ, and MV- [Fe/H] relations are discussed by comparing the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud provided by different types of pulsating stars and alternative fitting methods. Results: Good agreement is found from direct comparison of the parallaxes of RR Lyrae stars for which both TGAS and HST measurements are available. Similarly, very good agreement is found between the TGAS values and the parallaxes inferred from the absolute magnitudes of Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars analysed with the Baade-Wesselink method. TGAS values also compare favourably with the parallaxes inferred by theoretical model fitting of the multi-band light curves for two of the three classical Cepheids and one RR Lyrae star, which were analysed with this technique in our samples. The K-band PL relations show the significant improvement of the TGAS parallaxes for Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars with respect to the Hipparcos measurements. This is particularly true for the RR Lyrae stars for which improvement in quality and statistics is impressive. Conclusions: TGAS parallaxes bring a significant added value to the previous Hipparcos estimates. The relations presented in this paper represent the first Gaia-calibrated relations and form a work-in-progress milestone report in the wait for Gaia-only parallaxes of which a first solution will become available with Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) in 2018. Full Tables A.1-A.3 are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/605/A79

Original language	English
Article number	A79
Number of pages	29
Journal	Astronomy & Astrophysics
Volume	605
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201629925
Publication status	Published - Sept 2017

Funding

This work has made use of results from the European Space Agency (ESA) space mission Gaia, the data from which were processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. The Gaia mission website is http://www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia.The authors are current or past members of the ESA and Airbus DS Gaia mission teams and of the Gaia DPAC. This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France. We thank the referee, Pierre Kervella, for his detailed comments and suggestions that have helped to improve the paper analysis and presentation. This work has financially been supported by: the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) through grants I/037/08/0, I/058/10/0, 2014-025-R.0, and 2014-025-R.1.2015 to INAF and contracts I/008/10/0 and 2013/030/I.0 to ALTEC S.p.A.; the Algerian Centre de Recherche en Astronomie, Astrophysique et Geophysique of Bouzareah Observatory; the Austrian FWF Hertha Firnberg Programme through grants T359, P20046, and P23737; the BELgian federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) through various PROgramme de Developpement d'Experiences scientifiques (PRODEX) grants; the Brazil-France exchange programmes FAPESPCOFECUB and CAPES-COFECUB; the Chinese National Science Foundation through grant NSFC 11573054; the Czech-Republic Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports through grant LG 15010; the Danish Ministry of Science; the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research through grant IUT401; the European Commission's Sixth Framework Programme through the European Leadership in Space Astrometry (ELSA) Marie Curie Research Training Network (MRTN-CT-2006-033481), through Marie Curie project PIOF-GA2009-255267 (SAS-RRL), and through a Marie Curie Transfer-of-Knowledge (ToK) fellowship (MTKD-CT-2004-014188); the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme through grant FP7-606740 (FP7-SPACE-2013-1) for the Gaia European Network for Improved data User Services (GENIUS) and through grant 264895 for the Gaia Research for European Astronomy Training (GREAT-ITN) network; the European Research Council (ERC) through grant 320360 and through the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme through grant agreement 670519 (Mixing and Angular Momentum tranSport of massIvE stars -MAMSIE); the European Science Foundation (ESF), in the framework of the Gaia Research for European Astronomy Training Research Network Programme (GREAT-ESF); the European Space Agency in the framework of the Gaia project; the European Space Agency Plan for European Cooperating States (PECS) programme through grants for Slovenia; the Czech Space O ffice through ESA PECS contract 98058; the Academy of Finland; the Magnus Ehrnrooth Foundation; the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) through action "Defi MASTODONS"; the French Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES); the French L'Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) "investissements d'avenir" Initiatives D'EXcellence (IDEX) programme PSL ~ through grant ANR-10IDEX-0001-02; the Region Aquitaine; the Universite de Bordeaux; the French Utinam Institute of the Universite de Franche-Comte, supported by the Region de Franche-Comte and the Institut des Sciences de l'Univers (INSU); the German Aerospace Agency (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft-und Raumfahrt e.V.

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

103003 Astronomy
103004 Astrophysics

Keywords

astrometry
parallaxes
stars: distances
stars: variables: Cepheids
stars: variables: RR Lyrae
methods: data analysis
LARGE-MAGELLANIC-CLOUD
PERIOD-LUMINOSITY RELATIONS
HUBBLE-SPACE-TELESCOPE
GRAVITATIONAL LENSING EXPERIMENT
GLOBULAR-CLUSTER DISTANCES
POPULATION-II-CEPHEIDS
CLASSICAL CEPHEIDS
VARIABLE-STARS
ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDES
THEORETICAL-MODELS
Stars: variables: RR Lyrae
Stars: variables: Cepheids
Parallaxes
Astrometry
Stars: distances
Methods: data analysis

Access to Document

10.1051/0004-6361/201629925

Cite this

@article{3b39cc5071a84074b8d3f959777508e5,

title = "Gaia Data Release 1. Testing parallaxes with local Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars",

abstract = "Context. Parallaxes for 331 classical Cepheids, 31 Type II Cepheids, and 364 RR Lyrae stars in common between Gaia and the Hipparcos and Tycho-2 catalogues are published in Gaia Data Release 1 (DR1) as part of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS). Aims: In order to test these first parallax measurements of the primary standard candles of the cosmological distance ladder, which involve astrometry collected by Gaia during the initial 14 months of science operation, we compared them with literature estimates and derived new period-luminosity (PL), period-Wesenheit (PW) relations for classical and Type II Cepheids and infrared PL, PL-metallicity (PLZ), and optical luminosity-metallicity (MV-[Fe/H]) relations for the RR Lyrae stars, with zero points based on TGAS. Methods: Classical Cepheids were carefully selected in order to discard known or suspected binary systems. The final sample comprises 102 fundamental mode pulsators with periods ranging from 1.68 to 51.66 days (of which 33 with σϖ/ϖ< 0.5). The Type II Cepheids include a total of 26 W Virginis and BL Herculis stars spanning the period range from 1.16 to 30.00 days (of which only 7 with σϖ/ϖ< 0.5). The RR Lyrae stars include 200 sources with pulsation period ranging from 0.27 to 0.80 days (of which 112 with σϖ/ϖ< 0.5). The new relations were computed using multi-band (V,I,J,Ks) photometry and spectroscopic metal abundances available in the literature, and by applying three alternative approaches: (I) linear least-squares fitting of the absolute magnitudes inferred from direct transformation of the TGAS parallaxes; (II) adopting astrometry-based luminosities; and (III) using a Bayesian fitting approach. The last two methods work in parallax space where parallaxes are used directly, thus maintaining symmetrical errors and allowing negative parallaxes to be used. The TGAS-based PL,PW,PLZ, and MV- [Fe/H] relations are discussed by comparing the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud provided by different types of pulsating stars and alternative fitting methods. Results: Good agreement is found from direct comparison of the parallaxes of RR Lyrae stars for which both TGAS and HST measurements are available. Similarly, very good agreement is found between the TGAS values and the parallaxes inferred from the absolute magnitudes of Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars analysed with the Baade-Wesselink method. TGAS values also compare favourably with the parallaxes inferred by theoretical model fitting of the multi-band light curves for two of the three classical Cepheids and one RR Lyrae star, which were analysed with this technique in our samples. The K-band PL relations show the significant improvement of the TGAS parallaxes for Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars with respect to the Hipparcos measurements. This is particularly true for the RR Lyrae stars for which improvement in quality and statistics is impressive. Conclusions: TGAS parallaxes bring a significant added value to the previous Hipparcos estimates. The relations presented in this paper represent the first Gaia-calibrated relations and form a work-in-progress milestone report in the wait for Gaia-only parallaxes of which a first solution will become available with Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) in 2018. Full Tables A.1-A.3 are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/605/A79",

keywords = "astrometry, parallaxes, stars: distances, stars: variables: Cepheids, stars: variables: RR Lyrae, methods: data analysis, LARGE-MAGELLANIC-CLOUD, PERIOD-LUMINOSITY RELATIONS, HUBBLE-SPACE-TELESCOPE, GRAVITATIONAL LENSING EXPERIMENT, GLOBULAR-CLUSTER DISTANCES, POPULATION-II-CEPHEIDS, CLASSICAL CEPHEIDS, VARIABLE-STARS, ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDES, THEORETICAL-MODELS, Stars: variables: RR Lyrae, Stars: variables: Cepheids, Parallaxes, Astrometry, Stars: distances, Methods: data analysis",

author = "\{Gaia Collaboration\} and G. Clementini and L. Eyer and V Ripepi and M. Marconi and T. Muraveva and A. Garofalo and Sarro, \{L. M.\} and M. Palmer and X. Luri and R. Molinaro and L. Rimoldini and L. Szabados and I. Musella and R. Anderson and T. Prusti and \{de Bruijne\}, \{J. H. J.\} and Brown, \{A. G. A.\} and A. Vallenari and C. Babusiaux and Bailer-Jones, \{C. A. L.\} and U. Bastian and M. Biermann and Evans, \{D. W.\} and F. Jansen and C. Jordi and Klioner, \{S. A.\} and U. Lammers and L. Lindegren and F. Mignard and C. Panem and D. Pourbaix and S. Randich and P. Sartoretti and H. Siddiqui and C. Soubiran and V. Valette and \{van Leeuwen\}, F. and Walton, \{N. A.\} and C. Aerts and F. Arenou and M. Cropper and R. Drimmel and E. Hog and D. Katz and Lattanzi, \{M. G.\} and W. O'Mullane and Grebel, \{E. K.\} and Holland, \{A. D.\} and J. Alves and T. Lebzelter and Denise Lorenz",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} ESO, 2017.",

year = "2017",

month = sep,

doi = "10.1051/0004-6361/201629925",

language = "English",

volume = "605",

journal = "Astronomy \& Astrophysics",

issn = "0004-6361",

publisher = "EDP SCIENCES S A",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Gaia Data Release 1. Testing parallaxes with local Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars

AU - Gaia Collaboration

AU - Clementini, G.

AU - Eyer, L.

AU - Ripepi, V

AU - Marconi, M.

AU - Muraveva, T.

AU - Garofalo, A.

AU - Sarro, L. M.

AU - Palmer, M.

AU - Luri, X.

AU - Molinaro, R.

AU - Rimoldini, L.

AU - Szabados, L.

AU - Musella, I.

AU - Anderson, R.

AU - Prusti, T.

AU - de Bruijne, J. H. J.

AU - Brown, A. G. A.

AU - Vallenari, A.

AU - Babusiaux, C.

AU - Bailer-Jones, C. A. L.

AU - Bastian, U.

AU - Biermann, M.

AU - Evans, D. W.

AU - Jansen, F.

AU - Jordi, C.

AU - Klioner, S. A.

AU - Lammers, U.

AU - Lindegren, L.

AU - Mignard, F.

AU - Panem, C.

AU - Pourbaix, D.

AU - Randich, S.

AU - Sartoretti, P.

AU - Siddiqui, H.

AU - Soubiran, C.

AU - Valette, V.

AU - van Leeuwen, F.

AU - Walton, N. A.

AU - Aerts, C.

AU - Arenou, F.

AU - Cropper, M.

AU - Drimmel, R.

AU - Hog, E.

AU - Katz, D.

AU - Lattanzi, M. G.

AU - O'Mullane, W.

AU - Grebel, E. K.

AU - Holland, A. D.

AU - Alves, J.

AU - Lebzelter, T.

AU - Lorenz, Denise

PY - 2017/9

Y1 - 2017/9

N2 - Context. Parallaxes for 331 classical Cepheids, 31 Type II Cepheids, and 364 RR Lyrae stars in common between Gaia and the Hipparcos and Tycho-2 catalogues are published in Gaia Data Release 1 (DR1) as part of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS). Aims: In order to test these first parallax measurements of the primary standard candles of the cosmological distance ladder, which involve astrometry collected by Gaia during the initial 14 months of science operation, we compared them with literature estimates and derived new period-luminosity (PL), period-Wesenheit (PW) relations for classical and Type II Cepheids and infrared PL, PL-metallicity (PLZ), and optical luminosity-metallicity (MV-[Fe/H]) relations for the RR Lyrae stars, with zero points based on TGAS. Methods: Classical Cepheids were carefully selected in order to discard known or suspected binary systems. The final sample comprises 102 fundamental mode pulsators with periods ranging from 1.68 to 51.66 days (of which 33 with σϖ/ϖ< 0.5). The Type II Cepheids include a total of 26 W Virginis and BL Herculis stars spanning the period range from 1.16 to 30.00 days (of which only 7 with σϖ/ϖ< 0.5). The RR Lyrae stars include 200 sources with pulsation period ranging from 0.27 to 0.80 days (of which 112 with σϖ/ϖ< 0.5). The new relations were computed using multi-band (V,I,J,Ks) photometry and spectroscopic metal abundances available in the literature, and by applying three alternative approaches: (I) linear least-squares fitting of the absolute magnitudes inferred from direct transformation of the TGAS parallaxes; (II) adopting astrometry-based luminosities; and (III) using a Bayesian fitting approach. The last two methods work in parallax space where parallaxes are used directly, thus maintaining symmetrical errors and allowing negative parallaxes to be used. The TGAS-based PL,PW,PLZ, and MV- [Fe/H] relations are discussed by comparing the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud provided by different types of pulsating stars and alternative fitting methods. Results: Good agreement is found from direct comparison of the parallaxes of RR Lyrae stars for which both TGAS and HST measurements are available. Similarly, very good agreement is found between the TGAS values and the parallaxes inferred from the absolute magnitudes of Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars analysed with the Baade-Wesselink method. TGAS values also compare favourably with the parallaxes inferred by theoretical model fitting of the multi-band light curves for two of the three classical Cepheids and one RR Lyrae star, which were analysed with this technique in our samples. The K-band PL relations show the significant improvement of the TGAS parallaxes for Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars with respect to the Hipparcos measurements. This is particularly true for the RR Lyrae stars for which improvement in quality and statistics is impressive. Conclusions: TGAS parallaxes bring a significant added value to the previous Hipparcos estimates. The relations presented in this paper represent the first Gaia-calibrated relations and form a work-in-progress milestone report in the wait for Gaia-only parallaxes of which a first solution will become available with Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) in 2018. Full Tables A.1-A.3 are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/605/A79

AB - Context. Parallaxes for 331 classical Cepheids, 31 Type II Cepheids, and 364 RR Lyrae stars in common between Gaia and the Hipparcos and Tycho-2 catalogues are published in Gaia Data Release 1 (DR1) as part of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS). Aims: In order to test these first parallax measurements of the primary standard candles of the cosmological distance ladder, which involve astrometry collected by Gaia during the initial 14 months of science operation, we compared them with literature estimates and derived new period-luminosity (PL), period-Wesenheit (PW) relations for classical and Type II Cepheids and infrared PL, PL-metallicity (PLZ), and optical luminosity-metallicity (MV-[Fe/H]) relations for the RR Lyrae stars, with zero points based on TGAS. Methods: Classical Cepheids were carefully selected in order to discard known or suspected binary systems. The final sample comprises 102 fundamental mode pulsators with periods ranging from 1.68 to 51.66 days (of which 33 with σϖ/ϖ< 0.5). The Type II Cepheids include a total of 26 W Virginis and BL Herculis stars spanning the period range from 1.16 to 30.00 days (of which only 7 with σϖ/ϖ< 0.5). The RR Lyrae stars include 200 sources with pulsation period ranging from 0.27 to 0.80 days (of which 112 with σϖ/ϖ< 0.5). The new relations were computed using multi-band (V,I,J,Ks) photometry and spectroscopic metal abundances available in the literature, and by applying three alternative approaches: (I) linear least-squares fitting of the absolute magnitudes inferred from direct transformation of the TGAS parallaxes; (II) adopting astrometry-based luminosities; and (III) using a Bayesian fitting approach. The last two methods work in parallax space where parallaxes are used directly, thus maintaining symmetrical errors and allowing negative parallaxes to be used. The TGAS-based PL,PW,PLZ, and MV- [Fe/H] relations are discussed by comparing the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud provided by different types of pulsating stars and alternative fitting methods. Results: Good agreement is found from direct comparison of the parallaxes of RR Lyrae stars for which both TGAS and HST measurements are available. Similarly, very good agreement is found between the TGAS values and the parallaxes inferred from the absolute magnitudes of Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars analysed with the Baade-Wesselink method. TGAS values also compare favourably with the parallaxes inferred by theoretical model fitting of the multi-band light curves for two of the three classical Cepheids and one RR Lyrae star, which were analysed with this technique in our samples. The K-band PL relations show the significant improvement of the TGAS parallaxes for Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars with respect to the Hipparcos measurements. This is particularly true for the RR Lyrae stars for which improvement in quality and statistics is impressive. Conclusions: TGAS parallaxes bring a significant added value to the previous Hipparcos estimates. The relations presented in this paper represent the first Gaia-calibrated relations and form a work-in-progress milestone report in the wait for Gaia-only parallaxes of which a first solution will become available with Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) in 2018. Full Tables A.1-A.3 are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/605/A79

KW - astrometry

KW - parallaxes

KW - stars: distances

KW - stars: variables: Cepheids

KW - stars: variables: RR Lyrae

KW - methods: data analysis

KW - LARGE-MAGELLANIC-CLOUD

KW - PERIOD-LUMINOSITY RELATIONS

KW - HUBBLE-SPACE-TELESCOPE

KW - GRAVITATIONAL LENSING EXPERIMENT

KW - GLOBULAR-CLUSTER DISTANCES

KW - POPULATION-II-CEPHEIDS

KW - CLASSICAL CEPHEIDS

KW - VARIABLE-STARS

KW - ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDES

KW - THEORETICAL-MODELS

KW - Stars: variables: RR Lyrae

KW - Stars: variables: Cepheids

KW - Parallaxes

KW - Astrometry

KW - Stars: distances

KW - Methods: data analysis

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85029512903

U2 - 10.1051/0004-6361/201629925

DO - 10.1051/0004-6361/201629925

M3 - Article

SN - 0004-6361

VL - 605

JO - Astronomy & Astrophysics

JF - Astronomy & Astrophysics

M1 - A79

ER -

Gaia Data Release 1. Testing parallaxes with local Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars

Abstract

Funding

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

Keywords

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