THE VMC SURVEY. XIX. CLASSICAL CEPHEIDS IN THE SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD
- INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, via Moiariello 16, I-80131, Naples (Italy)
- IAASARS, National Observatory of Athens, 15236 Penteli (Greece)
- INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Ranzani, I-40127, Bologna (Italy)
- Universität Potsdam, Institut für Physik und Astronomie, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24/25, D-14476 Potsdam (Germany)
- Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics and Department of Astronomy, Peking University, Yi He Yuan Lu 5, Hai Dian District, Beijing 100871 (China)
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS (United Kingdom)
- Koninklijke Sterrenwacht van België, Ringlaan 3, B-1180, Brussel (Belgium)
- European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching bei München (Germany)
The “VISTA near-infrared YJK {sub s} survey of the Magellanic Clouds System” (VMC) is collecting deep K {sub s}-band time-series photometry of pulsating variable stars hosted by the two Magellanic Clouds and their connecting Bridge. In this paper, we present Y , J , K {sub s} light curves for a sample of 4172 Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) Classical Cepheids (CCs). These data, complemented with literature V values, allowed us to construct a variety of period–luminosity (PL), period–luminosity–color (PLC), and period–Wesenheit (PW) relationships, which are valid for Fundamental (F), First Overtone (FO), and Second Overtone (SO) pulsators. The relations involving the V , J , K {sub s} bands are in agreement with their counterparts in the literature. As for the Y band, to our knowledge, we present the first CC PL, PW, and PLC relations ever derived using this filter. We also present the first near–infrared PL, PW, and PLC relations for SO pulsators to date. We used PW( V , K {sub s}) to estimate the relative SMC–LMC distance and, in turn, the absolute distance to the SMC. For the former quantity, we find a value of Δ μ = 0.55 ± 0.04 mag, which is in rather good agreement with other evaluations based on CCs, but significantly larger than the results obtained from older population II distance indicators. This discrepancy might be due to the different geometric distributions of young and old tracers in both Clouds. As for the absolute distance to the SMC, our best estimates are μ {sub SMC} = 19.01 ± 0.05 mag and μ {sub SMC} = 19.04 ± 0.06 mag, based on two distance measurements to the LMC which rely on accurate CC and eclipsing Cepheid binary data, respectively.
- OSTI ID:
- 22661070
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series, Vol. 224, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0067-0049
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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