Related papers: Cepheid Standard Candles
Recent work by Efstathiou (2014) highlighted the importance of outliers in the period-luminosity (PL) relation of Cepheid data on the distance ladder. We present a statistical framework designed to address this difficulty, and apply it to…
The correlation between the luminosities and rotation velocities of galaxies can be used to estimate distances to late-type galaxies. It is an appropriate moment to re-evaluate this method given the great deal of new information available.…
We present revised and improved mid-infrared Period-Luminosity (PL) relations for Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) Cepheids based on double-epoch data of 70 Cepheids observed by Spitzer at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8 and 8.0um. The observed scatter at all…
We present a realization of the maximum-likelihood (ML) technique, which is one of the latest modifications of the Baade--Becker--Wesselink (BBW) method. Our approach is based on non-linear calibrations of the effective temperature and…
(abridged) In this study, we constructed spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for a sample of 142 LMC and 77 SMC fundamental-mode classical Cepheids (CCs) using photometric data from the literature. When possible, the data were taken to be…
We review the phenomenology of classical Cepheids (CCs), Anomalous Cepheids (ACs) and type II Cepheids (TIICs) in the Milky Way (MW) and in the Magellanic Clouds (MCs). We also examine the Hertzsprung progression in different stellar…
The Cepheid Leavitt Law (LL), also known as the Period-Luminosity relation, is a crucial tool for assembling the cosmic distance ladder. By combining data from the OGLE-IV catalogue with mid-infrared photometry from the Spitzer Space…
This is the fifth and final summary paper of our 15 year program using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to determine the Hubble constant using Type Ia supernovae, calibrated with Cepheid variables in nearby galaxies that hosted them.…
After the first release of HIPPARCOS data, Feast & Catchpole gave a new value to the zero-point of the visual Cepheid Period-Luminosity relation based on trigonometric parallaxes. Because of the large uncertainties on these parallaxes, the…
Galactic Cepheids are necessary tools for calibrating the period-luminosity relation, but distances to individual Galactic Cepheids are difficult to precisely measure and are limited to a small number of techniques such as direct parallax,…
There is strong evidence that the period-luminosity (PL) relation for the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) Cepheids shows a break at a period around 10 days. Since the LMC PL relation is extensively used in distance scale studies, the…
Using Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys (HST/ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) observations from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT), we present new period-luminosity (P-L) relations for Cepheid variables in…
We examine the suggestion that half of the HST Key Project- and Sandage/Saha-observed galaxies have had their distances systematically underestimated, by 0.1-0.3 mag in the distance modulus, due to the underappreciated influence of stellar…
The expected distribution of Cepheids within the instability strip is affected by several model inputs, reflecting upon the predicted Period-Luminosity relation. On the basis of new and updated sets of evolutionary and pulsational models,…
We discuss recent theoretical and empirical results concerning cosmic distances and discuss the problems affecting the Cepheid and the RR Lyrae distance scales. In particular, we outline the key role that first overtone Cepheids can play to…
It has been claimed that Period-Luminosity relations derived from infrared observations of Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) Cepheids are less dependent on the metallicity of the Cepheids. In this work, infrared observations of LMC Cepheids from…
We present preliminary results of an observational campaign devoted at establishing the influence of chemical composition on the Cepheid Period-Luminosity relation. The data are in good agreement with theoretical predictions based on…
We report observations from HST of Cepheids in the hosts of 42 SNe Ia used to calibrate the Hubble constant (H0). These include all suitable SNe Ia in the last 40 years at z<0.01, measured with >1000 orbits, more than doubling the sample…
Recent work on the luminosities of type II Cepheids (CephIIs) and RR Lyrae variables is reviewed.In the near infrared (JHKs) the CephIIs in globular clusters show a narrow, linear, period-luminosity relation over their whole period range…
The Carnegie Hubble Program (CHP) is designed to improve the extragalactic distance scale using data from the post-cryogenic era of Spitzer. The ultimate goal is a determination of the Hubble constant to an accuracy of 2%. This paper is the…