THE ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE OF RRc VARIABLES FROM STATISTICAL PARALLAX

Journal Article · Fri Sep 20 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/775/1/57· OSTI ID:22270944

Kollmeier, Juna A.; Burns, Christopher R.; Thompson, Ian B.; Preston, George W.; Crane, Jeffrey D.; Madore, Barry F.; Morrell, Nidia; Prieto, José L.; Shectman, Stephen; Simon, Joshua D.; Villanueva, Edward ^[1]; Szczygieł, Dorota M.; Gould, Andrew ^[2]; Sneden, Christopher ^[3]; Dong, Subo ^[4]

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1. Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States)
2. Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University, 4051 McPherson Laboratory, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States)
3. Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, TX 78712 (United States)
4. Institute for Advanced Study, 500 Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540 (United States)

We present the first definitive measurement of the absolute magnitude of RR Lyrae c-type variable stars (RRc) determined purely from statistical parallax. We use a sample of 242 RRc variables selected from the All Sky Automated Survey for which high-quality light curves, photometry, and proper motions are available. We obtain high-resolution echelle spectra for these objects to determine radial velocities and abundances as part of the Carnegie RR Lyrae Survey. We find that M{sub V,RRc} = 0.59 ± 0.10 at a mean metallicity of [Fe/H] = –1.59. This is to be compared with previous estimates for RRab stars (M{sub V,RRab} = 0.76 ± 0.12) and the only direct measurement of an RRc absolute magnitude (RZ Cephei, M{sub V,RRc} = 0.27 ± 0.17). We find the bulk velocity of the halo relative to the Sun to be (W{sub π}, W{sub θ}, W{sub z} ) = (12.0, –209.9, 3.0) km s{sup –1} in the radial, rotational, and vertical directions with dispersions (σ{sub W{sub π}},σ{sub W{sub θ}},σ{sub W{sub z}}) = (150.4, 106.1, 96.0) km s{sup -1}. For the disk, we find (W{sub π}, W{sub θ}, W{sub z} ) = (13.0, –42.0, –27.3) km s{sup –1} relative to the Sun with dispersions (σ{sub W{sub π}},σ{sub W{sub θ}},σ{sub W{sub z}}) = (67.7,59.2,54.9) km s{sup -1}. Finally, as a byproduct of our statistical framework, we are able to demonstrate that UCAC2 proper-motion errors are significantly overestimated as verified by UCAC4.

• OSTI ID: 22270944
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 775, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DIAGRAMS
ELEMENT ABUNDANCE
GALAXIES
PHOTOMETRY
PROPER MOTION
RADIAL VELOCITY
SUN
VARIABLE STARS
VISIBLE RADIATION