Structure and kinematics of Type II Cepheids in the Galactic bulge based on near-infrared VVV data^⋆

¹ Instituto Milenio de Astrofísica, Santiago, Chile
e-mail: vittorio.braga@roma2.infn.it
² Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andrés Bello, Fernández Concha 700, Santiago, Las Condes, Chile
³ Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Yi He Yuan Lu 5, Hai Dian District, Beijing 100871, PR China
⁴ Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Instituto de Astrofísica, Av. Vicuña Mackenna, 4860 Macul, Chile
⁵ Vatican Observatory, V00120 Vatican City State, Italy
⁶ Department of Physics, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy
⁷ INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via Frascati 33, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Macquarie University, Balaclava Road, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
⁹ International Space Science Institute–Beijing, 1 Nanertiao, Zhongguancun, Hai Dian District, Beijing 100190, PR China
¹⁰ European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Córdova 3107, Casilla, 19001 Santiago, Chile
¹¹ European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, 85748 Garching, Germany

Received: 31 May 2018
Accepted: 14 August 2018

Abstract

Context. Type II Cepheids (T2Cs) are radially pulsating variables that trace old stellar populations and provide distance estimates through their period-luminosity (PL) relation.

Aims. We trace the structure of old stellar population in the Galactic bulge using new distance estimates and kinematic properties of T2Cs.

Methods. We present new near-infrared photometry of T2Cs in the bulge from the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea survey (VVV). We provide the largest sample (894 stars) of T2Cs with JHK_s observations that have accurate periods from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) catalog. Our analysis makes use of the K_s-band time-series observations to estimate mean magnitudes and individual distances by means of the PL relation. To constrain the kinematic properties of our targets, we complement our analysis with proper motions based on both the VVV and Gaia Data Release 2.

Results. We derive an empirical K_s-band PL relation that depends on Galactic longitude and latitude: K_s0 = (10.66 ± 0.02) − (2.21 ± 0.03)·(log P−1.2)−(0.020±0.003)·l+(0.050±0.008)·|b| mag; individual extinction corrections are based on a 3D reddening map. Our targets display a centrally concentrated distribution, with solid evidence of ellipsoidal symmetry – similar to the RR Lyræ ellipsoid – and a few halo outliers up to ≳100 kpc. We obtain a distance from the Galactic center of R₀ = 8.46 ± 0.03(stat.) ± 0.11(syst.) kpc. We also find evidence that the bulge T2Cs belong to a kinematically hot population, as the tangential velocity components (συ_l∗ = 104.2 ± 3.0kms⁻¹ and συ_b = 96.8 ± 5.5kms⁻¹) agree within 1.2σ. Moreover, the difference between absolute and relative proper motion is in good agreement with the proper motion of Sgr A^✻ from VLBA measures.

Conclusions. We conclude that bulge T2Cs display an ellipsoidal spatial distribution and have kinematics similar to RR Lyræ stars, which are other tracers of the old, low-mass stellar population. T2Cs also provide an estimate of R₀ that agrees excellently well with the literature, taking account of the reddening law.