Transformations between Vilnius and Strömgren photometric systems^*

¹ Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, 800 Algoma Blvd., Oshkosh, WI 54901-8644, USA
² Niels Bohr Institute for Astronomy, Physics and Geophysics, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark e-mail: indus@astro.ku.dk

Corresponding author: N. Kaltcheva, kaltchev@uwosh.edu

Received: 13 June 2001
Accepted: 17 January 2002

Abstract

We present a number of relationships between similar colour indices in the Vilnius and Strömgren  photometric systems, empirically derived from all observational data available. Significant differences between the corresponding indices, apparently due to the different central wavelength and width of the Strömgren  u and v bands and Vilnius U and X bands are found. We demonstrate that the effects may depend on metallicity and luminosity. For G-K stars of moderate luminosity we interpret the difference introduced by v and X pass-bands as an log g effect, reflecting the presence of Ca II lines in these spectral types. Apart from the interstellar Ca II absorption, the difference is little affected by the interstellar dust. It turns out as well to be very straightforward to make an estimation of the [Fe/H] index with an accuracy of 0.4 dex, using the Vilnius U and Strömgren  u filters. A comparison of to the hk index is also presented, supporting the conclusion that X magnitude is strongly influenced by the Ca II lines. We discuss a possible influence of the Ca II stellar lines on the absolute magnitude inferred from the Vilnius photometry.