arXiv:1203.3552v1 [astro-ph.SR] 15 Mar 2012
Astronomy & Astrophysics
manuscript no. proj2
c
ESO 2012
March 19, 2012
Cepheid limb darkening, angular diameter corrections, and
projection factor from static spherical model stellar atmospheres
Hilding R. Neilson
1
, Nicolas Nardetto
2
, Chow-Choong Ngeow
3
, Pascal Fouqu´e
4
, and Jesper Storm
5
1
Argelander-Institut f¨ur Astronomie, Universit¨at Bonn, Auf dem H¨ugel 71, D-53121 Bonn, Germany
e-mail: hneilson@astro.uni-bonn.de
2
Laboratoire Lagrange, UMR7293, UNS/CNRS/OCA , 06300 Nice, France
3
Graduate Institute of Astronomy, National Central University, Jhongli City, 32001, Taiwan
4
IRAP, Universit´e de Toulouse, CNRS, 14 avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France
5
Leibniz-Institut f¨ur Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), An der Sternwarte 16, 14482, Potsdam, Germany
ABSTRACT
Context.
One challenge for measuring the Hubble constant using Classical Cepheids is the calibration of the Leavitt Law or period-
luminosity relationship. The Baade-Wesselink method for distance determination to Cepheids relies on the ratio of the measured radial
velocity and pulsation velocity, the so-called projection factor and the ability to measure the stellar angular diameters.
Aims.
We use spherically-symmetric model stellar atmospheres to explore the dependence of the p-factor and angular diameter cor-
rections as a function of pulsation period.
Methods.
Intensity profiles are computed from a grid of plane-parallel and spherically-symmetric model stellar atmospheres using
the SAtlas code. Projection factors and angular diameter corrections are determined from these intensity profiles and compared to
previous results.
Results.
Our predicted geometric period-projection factor relation including previously published state-of-the-art hydrodynamical
predictions is not with recent observational constraints. We suggest a number of potential resolutions to this discrepancy. The model
atmosphere geometry also affects predictions for angular diameter corrections used to interpret interferometric observations, suggest-
ing corrections used in the past underestimated Cepheid angular diameters by 3 − 5%.
Conclusions.
While spherically-symmetric hydrostatic model atmospheres cannot resolve differences between projection factors from
theory and observations, they do help constrain underlying physics that must be included, including chromospheres and mass loss.
The models also predict more physically-based limb-darkening corrections for interferometric observations.
Key words. stars:atmospheres / stars:distances / stars: variable: Cepheids
1. Introduction
Classical Cepheids form an important rung on the cosmic
distance ladder because they follow a period-luminosity re-
lation, also called the Leavitt Law (Leavitt 1908). As such,
Cepheids are used to measure distances to other galax-
ies (e.g. Pietrzy´nski et al. 2010), and cosmological parame-
ters (Freedman et al. 2001; Riess et al. 2009, 2011), but the
Leavitt Law must be calibrated using Galactic (e.g. Turner
2010) and Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) Cepheids (e.g.
Ngeow & Kanbur 2008; Ngeow et al. 2009).
The Leavitt Law is calibrated by measuring Cepheid dis-
tances using numerous of techniques, such as parallax, clus-
ter membership, and the Baade-Wesselink method. The Leavitt
Law has been derived by assuming all LMC Cepheids are
at the same distance, where the distance to the LMC is de-
rived using a number of methods (e.g. Gieren et al. 2005;
Clement et al. 2008; Bonanos et al. 2011). Parallax has been
measured for a number of Galactic Cepheids (van Leeuwen et al.
2007; Benedict et al. 2007), but this method is limited by the
precision of Hipparcos and the Hubble Space Telescope. Only
a small number of Cepheids have precise parallaxes measured,
and this will only change when the GAIA satellite is launched
(Windmark et al. 2011). Likewise, Turner (2010) measured dis-
tances to 24 Cepheids belonging to clusters and groups. On
the other hand, the Baade-Wesselink method can be used for
Galactic and LMC Cepheids (Kervella et al. 2004; Gieren et al.
2005), allowing for a much greater sample size.
The Baade-Wesselink method (Baade 1926; Wesselink
1946) measures the distance to a Cepheid by measuring the
change of angular diameter and the actual change of radius as
a function of phase. These measurements yield the mean radius
and mean angular diameter, hence the distance. The change of
angular diameter can be determined using a number of meth-
ods. One method is from interferometric observations, where the
angular diameter can be directly resolved (Kervella et al. 2004,
2006; M´erand et al. 2006). The method uses angular diameter
corrections for limb darkening when the observations have lim-
ited resolution. A second method is using the infrared surface
brightness technique (Barnes & Evans 1976; Gieren et al. 1989).
This method uses a correlation between the angular diameter at
any phase and the star’s V-band flux and color. This method is
derived from the relation F
Bol
∝ θ
2
T
4
eff
, where θ is the angu-
lar diameter, F
Bol
is the bolometric flux and T
eff
is the effec-
tive temperature. The effective temperature is correlated to the
color based on observations of other stars or model stellar atmo-
spheres, while the bolometric flux is replaced by the V-band flux
and the bolometric correction. This method assumes the radius
is defined at a specific location in the stellar photosphere, i.e. at
an optical depth τ = 2/3.
The change of radius is ∆R =
R
v
puls
dt, where v
puls
is the
pulsation velocity. One cannot directly measure the pulsation ve-
1