Direct detection of pulsations of the

Cepheid star Gem and an

independent calibration of
the period-luminosity relation

Vanessa Gotta
PhD of Science in Physics
 What is a Variable Star?

A star is considered variable if its

apparent magnitude (brightness) is
altered in any way from our
perspective on Earth.
Two different categories of variable
stars.
Intrinsic variables: are stars whose
luminosity physically changes due to
pulsations, eruptions or through
swelling and shrinking.
Extrinsic variables: are stars that
change in brightness because of
being eclipsed by stellar rotation or
by another star or planet.
 Types of Intrinsic variables
1) Pulsating Variables: Stars showing
periodic expansion and contraction
of their surface layer.
Cepheid Variables: they are
pulsating variables that expand and
shrink dramatically within a short
period of time. variables include RR
Other pulsating
Lyrae stars (short period, older star),
MIRA stars (long period, cool red
supergiant) and Semiregular stars
2) Cataclysmic Variables: brighten
because of sharp or violent
outbursts caused by thermonuclear
processes either on the surface or
deep inside.
Supernovae: stellar explosion
wich dramatically changes the
structure of a star in an
irreversible way. Can be divided
into two classes: SN I and SN II.
 Novae: close binary systems that
are variable due to explosions on
the surface, but the star is not
destroyed.
Dwarf Novae: distinguishes dwarf
novae from classical is that they do
not eject a shell of material with the
outburst.
 Types of Extrinsic variables

1) Eclipsing Binary Stars: are stars that

pass in front of each other, causing
fluctuation and obscuring of the light
seen on Earth. For example: Algol stars
and RS Canum Venaticorum.
2) Rotating Stars: are variable stars
that show small light changes
caused by patches of light spots
on their surfaces. An example of
this stars is Pulsars (neutron
stars that emit electromagnetic
radiation that is only seen when
the beam is pointing at Earth).
Importance of Variable Stars
Amateur astronomers play an
important role in collecting data and
submitting observations to the AAVSO
International Database.
Research in VS helps astronomers to:
- Cepheids: Age of the Universe, due to
information on the distance galaxies.
- Supernovae: how the universe is
expanding.
- Cataclysmics: understanding active
galaxies and supermassive black holes.
 Cepheids: Period-Luminosity
Relation
Cepheids
have occupied a central
role in distance determinations.
This is thanks to the existence of the
Period- Luminosity relation:

But its calibration is still uncertain at

a M = 0.10 mag level.
 Direct detection of pulsations of the
Cepheid star Gem and an independent
calibration of the period-luminosity relation

Calibration of the period-luminosity

relation is a necessary first step.
In this paper is calculated the
distance to the Cepheid Gem,
determined using a direct
measurement (by an optical
interferometer) of its changes in
diameter as it pulsates.
 The
Cepheid variable z Gem is a
bright
( = 3.62-4.18) galactic Cepheid with
a 10.15day pulsational period.
We observed Gem in the H band
(1.6m) over a two-week period.

Where:
V is the visibility (amplitude)
is the apparent angular diameter
 The visibility is calculated from:

Where:
is the first-order Bessel
function.
B is the projected aperture
separation.
is the centre-band wavelength
of the observation.
 The system response was monitored
and calibrated by interleaving
observations of z Gem, a calibration
star (HD49968) and a check star
(HD48450).
 The
relation between and is given
by the approximation

/= 0.9630.006 for Gem

The results display in the following
graph:
 For this work, integrated a previously published
radial velocity curve for Gem (D. Bersier, et. al.,
1994).
 Compared
these radius changes to
the interferometrically measured
angular diameters, allowing us to
solve for two unknown parameters:
the mean radius of z Gem () and the
distance (d).
 Results
The
best-fit model parameters are:
d=33644(pc), =6211
The best fit gives =1.60.3

Mean limb-darkened diameter

1.620.3 (mas) (including
systematic uncertainties)
 Summary
The
largest source of systematic
uncertainty comes from the uncertainty in
the angular diameter of the calibrator
stars.
This uncertainty is most easily reduced by
using multiple calibrators.
Results of distance and diameter are in
excellent agreement with previously
published results which yield 41075 (pc)
and a radius of 65
 Future
Observations to reduce this uncertainty and
hope to achieve 5% accuracy.
With continuing observations, interferometry
will be in a position to empirically validate the
indirect methods and motivate improvements
in theoretical modelling.
Anticipate that over the next few years
distances to several dozen Cepheids will be
determined with an accuracy of a few per cent,
providing a direct calibration of the Cepheid
period-luminosity relation.
 References
http://www.space.com/15396-variable-stars.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova
http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/D/Dwarf+N
ovae
Book Light curves of variable stars, C Sterken
and C Jaschek, 1996
Cepheid Pulsations resolved by the VLTI, P.
Kervella, et. al., 2004
Direct detection of pulsations of the
Cepheid star z Gem and an independent
calibration of the period-luminosity
relation, B. F. Lane, et. al., 2000