Period–colour and amplitude–colour relations in classical Cepheid variables – IV. The multiphase relations

The superb phase resolution and quality of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) data on the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) Cepheids, together with existing data on Galactic Cepheids, are combined to study the period–colour (PC) and amplitude–colour (AC) relations as a function of pulsation phase. Our results confirm earlier work that the LMC PC relation (at mean light) is more consistent with two lines of differing slopes, separated at a period of 10 d. However, our multiphase PC relations reveal much new structure which can potentially increase our understanding of Cepheid variables. These multiphase PC relations provide insight into why the Galactic PC relation is linear but the LMC PC relation is non-linear. This is because the LMC PC relation is shallower for short  (log  P < 1)  and steeper for long  (log  P > 1)  period Cepheids than the corresponding Galactic PC relation. Both of the short- and long-period Cepheids in all three galaxies exhibit the steepest and shallowest slopes at phases around 0.75–0.85, respectively. A consequence is that the PC relation at phase ∼ 0.8 is highly non-linear. Further, the Galactic and LMC Cepheids with  log  P > 1  display a flat slope in the PC plane at phases close to the maximum light. When the LMC period–luminosity (PL) relation is studied as a function of phase, we confirm that it changes with the PC relation. The LMC PL relation in V and I band near the phase of 0.8 provides compelling evidence that this relation is also consistent with two lines of differing slopes joined at a period close to 10 d.     

Period–colour and amplitude–colour relations in classical Cepheid variables – III. The Large Magellanic Cloud Cepheid models

Period–colour (PC) and amplitude–colour (AC) relations are studied for the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) Cepheids under the theoretical framework of the hydrogen ionization front (HIF)–photosphere interaction. LMC models are constructed with pulsation codes that include turbulent convection, and the properties of these models are studied at maximum, mean and minimum light. As with Galactic models, at maximum light the photosphere is located next to the HIF for the LMC models. However, very different behaviour is found at minimum light. The long-period  ( P > 10 d)  LMC models imply that the photosphere is disengaged from the HIF at minimum light, similar to the Galactic models, but there are some indications that the photosphere is located near the HIF for the short-period  ( P < 10 d)  LMC models. We also use the updated LMC data to derive empirical PC and AC relations at these phases. Our numerical models are broadly consistent with our theory and the observed data, though we discuss some caveats in the paper. We apply the idea of the HIF–photosphere interaction to explain recent suggestions that the LMC period–luminosity (PL) and PC relations are non-linear with a break at a period close to 10 d. Our empirical LMC PC and PL relations are also found to be non-linear with the F -test. Our explanation relies on the properties of the Saha ionization equation, the HIF–photosphere interaction and the way this interaction changes with the phase of pulsation and metallicity to produce the observed changes in the LMC PC and PL relations.     

Period–colour and amplitude–colour relations in classical Cepheid variables – V. The Small Magellanic Cloud Cepheid models

Period–colour (PC) and amplitude–colour (AC) relations at maximum, mean and minimum light are constructed from a large grid of full amplitude hydrodynamic models of Cepheids with a composition appropriate for the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). We compare these theoretical relations with those from observations. The theoretical relations are, in general, in good agreement with their observational counterparts, though there exist some discrepancy for short period  (log [ P ] < 1)  Cepheids. We outline a physical mechanism which can, in principle, be one factor to explain the observed PC/AC relations for the long and short period Cepheids in the Galaxy, Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and SMC. Our explanation relies on the hydrogen ionization front (HIF)–photosphere interaction and the way this interaction changes with pulsation period, pulsation phase and metallicity. Since the PC relation is connected with the period–luminosity (PL) relation, it is postulated that such a mechanism can also explain the observed properties of the PL relation in these three galaxies.     

A comment on the colour–colour diagrams of low-mass X-ray binaries

Disc-accreting neutron stars come in two distinct varieties, atolls and Z sources, named after their differently shaped tracks on a colour–colour diagram as the source luminosity changes. Here we present analysis of three transient atoll sources showing that there is an additional branch in the colour–colour diagram of atoll sources which appears at very low luminosities. This new branch connects to the top of previously known C-shaped (atoll) path, forming a horizontal track where the average source flux decrease from right to left. This turns the C-shape into a Z. Thus both atolls and Z sources share the same topology on the colour–colour diagram and evolve in similar way, as a function of increasing averaged mass accretion rate. This strongly favours models in which the underlying geometry of these sources changes in similar ways. A possible scenario is one where the truncated disc approaches the neutron star when the accretion rate increases, but in the atolls the disc is truncated by evaporation (similarly to black holes), and in the Z sources it is truncated by the magnetic field.     

Modelling galaxy clustering by colour

We extend the mass-halo formalism for analytically generating power spectra to allow for the different clustering behaviour observed in galaxy subpopulations. Although applicable to other separations, we concentrate our methods on a simple separation by rest-frame colour into 'red' and 'blue' subpopulations through modifications to the 〈 N 〉( M ) relations and halo distribution functions for each of the subpopulations. This sort of separation is within the capabilities of the current generations of simulations as well as galaxy surveys, suggesting a potentially powerful observational constraint for current and future simulations. In anticipation of this, we demonstrate the sensitivity of the resulting power spectra to the choice of model parameters.     

The role of AGN in the colour transformation of galaxies at redshifts z≈ 1

We explore the role of active galactic nuclei (AGN) in establishing and/or maintaining the bimodal colour distribution of galaxies by quenching their star formation and hence, causing their transition from the blue to the red cloud. Important tests for this scenario include (i) the X-ray properties of galaxies in the transition zone between the two clouds and (ii) the incidence of AGN in post-starbursts, i.e. systems observed shortly after (<1 Gyr) the termination of their star formation. We perform these tests by combining deep Chandra observations with multiwavelength data from the All-wavelength Extended Groth strip International Survey (AEGIS). Stacking the X-ray photons at the positions of galaxies  (0.4 < z < 0.9)  not individually detected at X-ray wavelengths suggests a population of obscured AGN among sources in the transition zone and in the red cloud. Their mean X-ray and mid-infrared (IR) properties are consistent with moderately obscured low-luminosity AGN, Compton thick sources or a mix of both. Morphologies show that major mergers are unlikely to drive the evolution of this population but minor interactions may play a role. The incidence of obscured AGN in the red cloud (both direct detections and stacking results) suggests that black hole (BH) accretion outlives the termination of the star formation. This is also supported by our finding that post-starburst galaxies at z ≈ 0.8 and AGN are associated, in agreement with recent results at low z . A large fraction of post-starbursts and red cloud galaxies show evidence for at least moderate levels of AGN obscuration. This implies that if AGN outflows cause the colour transformation of galaxies, then some nuclear gas and dust clouds either remain unaffected or relax to the central galaxy regions after quenching their star formation.     

Chemo-spectrophotometric evolution of spiral galaxies – III. Abundance and colour gradients in discs

We study the relations between luminosity and chemical-abundance profiles of spiral galaxies, using detailed models for the chemical and spectrophotometric evolution of galactic discs. The models are 'calibrated' on the Milky Way disc and are successfully extended to other discs with the help of simple 'scaling' relations, obtained in the framework of semi-analytic models of galaxy formation. We find that our models exhibit oxygen abundance gradients that increase in absolute value with decreasing disc luminosity (when expressed in dex kpc⁻¹) and are independent of disc luminosity (when expressed in dex scalelength⁻¹), both in agreement with observations. We notice an important strong correlation between abundance gradient and disc scalelength. These results support the idea of 'homologous evolution' of galactic discs.     

Star formation systematics from colour images

We examined the radial distribution of 1227 blue knots in the rectified planes of 32 galaxies and showed that the method is equivalent to mapping the distribution ofHIi regions from narrow-band imaging in H. The blue knots show less detail in their distribution, as compared with Hii regions or with a parameter measuring the local efficiency of star formation. This is interpreted as showing the diffusion of OB stars out of the regions where they formed.     

The optical–infrared colour distribution of a statistically complete sample of faint field spheroidal galaxies

In hierarchical models, where spheroidal galaxies are primarily produced via a continuous merging of disc galaxies, the number of intrinsically red systems at faint limits will be substantially lower than in 'traditional' models where the bulk of star formation was completed at high redshifts. In this paper we analyse the optical–near-infrared colour distribution of a large flux-limited sample of field spheroidal galaxies identified morphologically from archival Hubble Space Telescope data. The I ₈₁₄− HK ' colour distribution for a sample jointly limited at I ₈₁₄<23 mag and HK '<19.5 mag is used to constrain their star formation history. We compare visual and automated methods for selecting spheroidals from our deep HST images and, in both cases, detect a significant deficit of intrinsically red spheroidals relative to the predictions of high-redshift monolithic-collapse models. However, the overall space density of spheroidals (irrespective of colour) is not substantially different from that seen locally. Spectral synthesis modelling of our results suggests that high-redshift spheroidals are dominated by evolved stellar populations polluted by some amount of subsidiary star formation. Despite its effect on the optical–infrared colour, this star formation probably makes only a modest contribution to the overall stellar mass. We briefly discuss the implications of our results in the context of earlier predictions based on models where spheroidals assemble hierarchically.     

Photometric modelling of starspots – I. A Barnes–Evans-like surface brightness–colour relation using (Ic−K)

In the first part of this work, the empirical correlation of stellar surface brightness F _V with ( I _c− K ) broad-band colour is investigated by using a sample of stars cooler than the Sun. A bilinear correlation is found to represent well the brightness of G, K and M giant stars. The change in slope occurs at ( I _c− K )∼2.1 or at about the transition from K to M spectral types. The same relationship is also investigated for dwarf stars and found to be distinctly different from that of the giants. The dwarf star correlation differs by an average of −0.4 in ( I _c− K ) or by a maximum in F _V of ∼−0.1, positioning it below that of the giants, with both trends tending towards convergence for the hotter stars in our sample. The flux distribution derived from the F _V −( I _c− K ) relationship for the giant stars, together with that derived from an F _V −( V − K ) relationship and the blackbody flux distribution, is then utilized to compute synthetic light V and colour ( V − R )_c, ( V − I )_c and ( V − K ) curves of cool spotted stars. We investigate the effects on the amplitudes of the curves by using these F _V –colour relations and by assuming the effective gravity of the spots to be lower than the gravity of the unspotted photosphere. We find that the amplitudes produced by using the F _V −( I _c− K ) relationship are larger than those produced by the other two brightness correlations, meaning smaller and/or warmer spots.     

Simulating colour variations in pulsating sdB stars

After briefly recalling basic facts about the metallicity gradients inspiral galaxies, we summarize two recent N-body gas-dynamical modelsthat implement a non-instantaneous gas recycling and point our their potential for an improved treatment of the chemical evolution ingalactic disks.     

Long-term optical flux and colour variability in quasars

We have used optical V and R band observations from the Massive Compact Halo Object(MACHO) project on a sample of 59 quasars behind the Magellanic clouds to study their long term optical flux and colour variations. These quasars, lying in the redshift range of 0.2 z 2.8 and having apparent V band magnitudes between 16.6 and 20.1 mag, have observations ranging from 49 to 1353 epochs spanning over 7.5 yr with frequency of sampling between 2 to 10 days. All the quasars show variability during the observing period. The normalised excess variance(Fvar) in V and R bands are in the range 0.2% FV var 1.6% and 0.1% FR var 1.5% respectively. In a large fraction of the sources, Fvaris larger in the V band compared to the R band. From the z-transformed discrete cross-correlation function analysis, we find that there is no lag between the V and R band variations. Adopting the Markov Chain Monte Carlo(MCMC) approach, and properly taking into account the correlation between the errors in colours and magnitudes, it is found that the majority of sources show a bluer when brighter trend, while a minor fraction of quasars show the opposite behaviour. This is similar to the results obtained from another two independent algorithms, namely the weighted linear least squares fit(FITEXY) and the bivariate correlated errors and intrinsic scatter regression(BCES). However, the ordinary least squares(OLS) fit, normally used in the colour variability studies of quasars, indicates that all the quasars studied here show a bluer when brighter trend. It is therefore very clear that the OLS algorithm cannot be used for the study of colour variability in quasars.     

The cosmological evolution of colour gradients in spheroids

The analysis of the four-colour maps of galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field (HDF) has revealed, in the sample of 0.4< z <1 early-type field galaxies, the existence of ellipticals with a predominantly old coeval stellar population. However, there is another, unexpected, category of HDF early-type galaxies, in which the galaxy core is significantly bluer than the outer regions. We demonstrate that these colour gradients are predicted by the multizone chemodynamical model for the evolution of elliptical galaxies.
We suggest that the colour gradient could be used as a chronometer for the evolution of elliptical galaxies: galaxies younger than a few Gyr exhibit cores bluer than the surrounding galaxy as a result of ongoing star formation, while more evolved galaxies have redder cores because of metallicity gradients increasing toward the centre.     

Four‐colour photometry of EY Dra: A study of an ultra‐fast rotating active dM1‐2e star

We present more than 1000‐day long photometry of EY Draconis in BV (RI)_C passbands. The changes in the light curve are caused by the spottedness of the rotating surface. Modelling of the spotted surface shows that there are two large active regions present on the star on the opposite hemispheres. The evolution of the surface patterns suggests a flip‐flop phenomenon. Using Fourier analysis, we detect a rotation period of P_rot = 0.45875 d, and an activity cycle with P ≈ 350 d, similar to the 11‐year long cycle of the Sun. This cycle with its year‐long period is the shortest one ever detected on active stars. Two bright flares are also detected and analysed (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A method of colour excess determination for classical cepheids

By use of the reddening free [m ₁], [c ₁], and indices data inuvby photometric system for three classical cepheids whose reddening values had been determined with the aid of photometry of field stars, three intrinsic relations of [m ₁]–(b–y), [c ₁]–(b–y), and –(b–y) have been established. It was shown that these three relations can be used to determine the colour excesses for other classical cepheids.     

Surface distribution of M stars with different IRAS colour

The surface distribution of M stars is studied by differentiating them according to whether they show a circumstellar dust shell (CS) or not. Analysis shows that galactic latitudinal and longitudinal distributions are not determined by spectral subclasses alone. The study also indicates that M-type stars with CS have higher luminosities in the K band than those without CS. The M stars used in the study are obtained from theTwo-Micron Sky-Survey Catalogue (IRC) which is a most unbiased sample with respect to the interstellar extinction. The CS feature is identified by the ratio of flux densities at 12 and 25 m in the IRAS point source catalog.