Cepheid Metallicity in the Leavitt Law (C-MetaLL) survey

VI. Radial abundance gradients of 29 chemical species in the Milky Way disc^★

¹ Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
² Institut für Physik und Astronomie, Universität Potsdam, Haus 28, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24/25, 14476 Golm (Potsdam), Germany
³ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Salita Moiariello 16, 80131 Naples, Italy
⁴ INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, Via S. Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Italy
⁵ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico d’Abruzzo, Via Maggini sn, 64100 Teramo, Italy
⁶ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)-Sez. di Napoli, Via Cinthia, 80126 Napoli, Italy
⁷ Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Post Bag 4, Ganeshkhind, Pune 411 007, India
⁸ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy

^★★ Corresponding author; etrentin@aip.de

Received: 15 April 2024
Accepted: 23 August 2024

Abstract

Context. Classical Cepheids (DCEPs) are crucial for calibrating the extragalactic distance ladder, ultimately enabling the determination of the Hubble constant through the period-luminosity (PL) and period-Wesenheit (PW) relations that they exhibit. Hence, it is vital to understand how the PL and PW relations depend on metallicity. This is the purpose of the C-MetaLL survey, within which this work is situated. The DCEPs are also very important tracers of the young populations placed along the Galactic disc.

Aims. We aim to enlarge the sample of DCEPs with accurate abundances from high-resolution spectroscopy. In particular, our goal is to extend the range of measured metallicities towards the metal-poor regime to better cover the parameter space. To this end, we observed objects in a wide range of Galactocentric radii, allowing us to study in detail the abundance gradients present in the Galactic disc.

Methods. We present the results of the analysis of 331 spectra obtained for 180 individual DCEPs with a variety of high-resolution spectrographs. For each target, we derived accurate atmospheric parameters, radial velocities, and abundances for up to 29 different species. The iron abundances range between 0.5 and −1 dex with a rather homogeneous distribution in metallicity.

Results. The sample presented in this paper was complemented with that already published in the context of the C-MetaLL survey, resulting in a total of 292 pulsators whose spectra have been analysed in a homogeneous way. These data were used to study the abundance gradients of the Galactic disc in a range of Galactocentric radii (R_GC) spanning the range of 5–20 kpc.

Conclusions. For most of the elements, we have found a clear negative gradient, with a slope of −0.064 ± 0.003 dex kpc⁻¹ for [Fe/H] case. Through a qualitative fit with the Galactic spiral arms, we show how our farthest targets (R_GC > 10 kpc) trace both the Outer and Outer Scutum-Centaurus arms. The homogeneity of the sample will be of pivotal importance for the study of the metallicity dependence of the DCEP PL relations.