J/AJ/149/66      VI photometry of 8 Cepheid candidates in M31     (Ngeow+, 2015)

VI-band follow-up observations of Ultra-Long-Period Cepheid candidates in M31. Ngeow C.-C., Lee C.-H., Yang M.T.-C., Lin C.-S., Hsiao H.-Y., Cheng Y.-C., Lin Z.-Y., Lin I.-L., Kanbur S.M., Ip W.-H. <Astron. J., 149, 66 (2015)> =2015AJ....149...66N 2015AJ....149...66N
ADC_Keywords: Galaxies, nearby ; Stars, variable ; Photometry, VRI Keywords: distance scale - galaxies: individual: M31 - stars: distances - stars: variables: Cepheids Abstract: The ultra-long-period Cepheids (ULPCs) are classical Cepheids with pulsation periods exceeding ∼80days. The intrinsic brightness of ULPCs are ∼1 to ∼3mag brighter than their shorter period counterparts. This makes them attractive in future distance scale work to derive distances beyond the limit set by the shorter period Cepheids. We have initiated a program to search for ULPCs in M31, using the single-band data taken from the Palomar Transient Factory, and identified eight possible candidates. In this work, we presented the VI-band follow-up observations of these eight candidates. Based on our VI-band light curves of these candidates and their locations in the color-magnitude diagram and the Period-Wesenheit diagram, we verify two candidates as being truly ULPCs. The six other candidates are most likely other kinds of long-period variables. With the two confirmed M31 ULPCs, we tested the applicability of ULPCs in distance scale work by deriving the distance modulus of M31. It was found to be µM31,ULPC=24.30±0.76mag. The large error in the derived distance modulus, together with the large intrinsic dispersion of the Period-Wesenheit (PW) relation and the small number of ULPCs in a given host galaxy, means that the question of the suitability of ULPCs as standard candles is still open. Further work is needed to enlarge the sample of calibrating ULPCs and reduce the intrinsic dispersion of the PW relation before re-considering ULPCs as suitable distance indicators. Description: The VI-band follow-up observations were carried out with the automated Palomar 60inch telescope (P60) at the Palomar Observatory and the Lulin 1m Telescope (LOT) at the Lulin Observatory. These observations began in 2012 October and ended in 2013 November. P60 is equipped with a 2k*2k CCD with a pixel scale of 0.379'' per pixel, while LOT used a CCD with a pixel scale of 0.512'' per pixel. File Summary: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FileName Lrecl Records Explanations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ReadMe 80 . This file table2.dat 37 954 VI-band light curves for the candidates table3.dat 96 8 Revised periods and mean magnitudes for the candidates -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- See also: B/gcvs : General Catalogue of Variable Stars (Samus+ 2007-2013) J/ApJ/799/144 : M31 Cepheids in near-IR (Kodric+, 2015) J/AJ/145/106 : M31 Cepheid disk sample of 1st year of PS1 (Kodric+, 2013) J/ApJ/745/156 : M31 Cepheids with HST/WFC3 (Riess+, 2012) J/ApJ/743/19 : M31 variable star candidates photometry (Clementini+, 2011) J/AcA/59/239 : Light curves of LMC long-period variables (Soszynski+, 2009) J/AJ/131/2478 : M31 and M33 UBVRI photometry (Massey+, 2006) J/A+A/459/321 : BV photometry of M31 eclipsing binaries (Vilardell+, 2006) J/A+A/445/423 : WeCAPP Survey. M31 variables (Fliri+, 2006) J/MNRAS/351/1071 : POINT-AGAPE Survey. M31 variables (An+, 2004) J/A+A/421/509 : AGAPE catalogue of M31 variables (Ansari+, 2004) J/A+A/402/113 : (RI)c photometry of variables in M31 (Joshi+, 2003) J/AJ/126/175 : M31Y eclipsing binaries and Cepheids (Bonanos+, 2003) J/AJ/118/2211 : M31F eclipsing binaries and Cepheids (Mochejska+ 1999) J/AJ/118/346 : M31D eclipsing binaries and Cepheids (Kaluzny+ 1999) J/AJ/117/2810 : Eclipsing binaries and Cepheids in M31C (Stanek+, 1999) J/AJ/115/1894 : Eclipsing binaries and Cepheids in M31A field (Stanek+ 1998) J/AJ/115/1016 : M31B eclipsing binaries and Cepheids (Kaluzny+ 1998) J/A+AS/126/401 : M31 Cepheids periods (Magnier+ 1997) Byte-by-byte Description of file: table2.dat -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bytes Format Units Label Explanations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1- 6 A6 --- ULPC Internal identifier for the Ultra-Long-Period Cepheid candidate (G1) 8- 10 A3 --- Tel Telescope used in the observation (LOT or P60) (1) 12 A1 --- Band [VI] Bandpass used in the observation 14- 24 F11.5 d MJD Modified Julian Date of the observation 26- 31 F6.3 mag mag [17.0/21.2] Observed magnitude in Band 33- 37 F5.3 mag e_mag Error in mag -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note (1): The two telescope codes are defined as follows: LOT = The Lulin 1m Telescope (LOT) at the Lulin Observatory; P60 = The automated Palomar 60inch telescope at the Palomar Observatory. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Byte-by-byte Description of file: table3.dat -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bytes Format Units Label Explanations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1- 2 A2 --- f_ULPC Class of ULPC: C=M31 ULPC candidate, NC=M31 non-ULPC candidate) 4- 9 A6 --- ULPC Internal identifier for the Ultra-Long-Period Cepheid candidate (G1) 11- 17 F7.3 d Per Period 19- 24 F6.3 d e_Per Uncertainty in Per 26- 31 F6.3 mag <Vmag> Mean V band magnitude 33- 38 F6.3 mag <Imag> Mean I band magnitude 40- 45 F6.3 mag Wmag Extinction-free Wesenheit magnitude, defined as W=I-1.55(V-I) (1) 47- 48 I2 h RAh Hour of Right Ascension (J2000) (2) 50- 51 I2 min RAm Minute of Right Ascension (J2000) (2) 53- 58 F6.3 s RAs Second of Right Ascension (J2000) (2) 60 A1 --- DE- Sign of the Declination (J2000) (2) 61- 62 I2 deg DEd Degree of Declination (J2000) (2) 64- 65 I2 arcmin DEm Arcminute of Declination (J2000) (2) 67- 71 F5.2 arcsec DEs Arcsecond of Declination (J2000) (2) 73- 96 A24 --- Simbad Simbad name (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note (1): In order to be consistent with previous works (Bird et al., 2009ApJ...695..874B 2009ApJ...695..874B; Fiorentino et al., 2012Ap&SS.341..143F 2012Ap&SS.341..143F), we adopted the same Wesenheit function in the form of W=I-1.55(V-I) from Udalski et al. (1999AcA....49..201U 1999AcA....49..201U). The coefficient of 1.55 in the Wesenheit function is based on the extinction law from Schlegel et al. (1998ApJ...500..525S 1998ApJ...500..525S). Note (2): Positions and Simbad names are from Paper I (Lee et al., 2013arXiv1309.5127L 2013arXiv1309.5127L). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Global notes: Note (G1): The first digit in this identifier corresponds to the chip number as given in Table I of Paper I (2013arXiv1309.5127L 2013arXiv1309.5127L), followed by 4 digits numbering from the difference imaging analysis (DIA) catalogs (Alard & Lupton, 1998ApJ...503..325A 1998ApJ...503..325A). History: From electronic version of the journal References: Lee et al., Paper I, 2013arXiv1309.5127L 2013arXiv1309.5127L
(End) Greg Schwarz [AAS], Sylvain Guehenneux [CDS] 26-Feb-2015
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