Issue |
A&A
Volume 474, Number 2, November I 2007
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 557 - 563 | |
Section | Stellar structure and evolution | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20065840 | |
Published online | 28 August 2007 |
Modeling of RR Lyrae light curves: the case of M3*
1
INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, via Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli, Italy e-mail: marcella@na.astro.it
2
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56126 Pisa, Italy
3
INFN, Sezione di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Received:
15
June
2006
Accepted:
19
July
2007
Context.A promising technique to derive the physical parameters and the distance of pulsating stars is the fit of the observed light curves by nonlinear pulsation models.
Aims.We apply this technique to a subsample of the RR Lyrae belonging to the Galactic globular cluster M3. The application of the method to cluster pulsators has the advantage of dealing with a homogeneous sample at the same distance and with the same chemical composition allowing to be checked the internal consistency of pulsational calculations.
Methods.We selected seven pulsators (three RRc and four RRab) which cover a significant period range and show detailed light curves in the B, V and in some cases I bands. For four of them, with different periods, pulsation modes and light curve properties, we analyze the dependence of the theoretical light curve variations on the model input parameters.
Results.For all selected objects, except the reddest one, we are able to theoretically reproduce
the observed light curve morphology for self-consistent ranges of intrinsic stellar parameters, in agreement with the evolutionary predictions for the
corresponding metal abundance.
It is worth noting that, even if the theoretical reproduction of individual
light curves gives for each variable only a range of stellar parameters and distances,
the analysis of several variables belonging to the same cluster provides a
mean distance modulus, namely mag,
and also checks the self-consistency of the adopted
theoretical scenario. Taking also into account the evolutionary constraints, the range of the accepted
distance modulus is significantly reduced giving a weighted mean value of
. Our estimates are in agreement with available results in the literature obtained from independent methods.
Key words: stars: evolution / stars: variables: RR Lyr / stars: distances
© ESO, 2007
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.