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 Angular diameter amplitudes of bright Cepheids.Expected mean angular diameters and amplitudes of angular diametervariations are estimated for all monoperiodic Classical Cepheidsbrighter than < V > = 8.0 mag. The catalog is intended to helpselecting best Cepheid targets for interferometric observations. Cepheid distances from interferometry .Long baseline interferometry is now able to resolve the pulsationalchange of the angular diameter of a significant number of Cepheids inthe solar neighborhood. This allows the application of a new version ofthe Baade-Wesselink (BW) method to measure their distance, for which wedo not need to estimate the star's temperature. Using angular diametermeasurements from the VLT Interferometer, we derived the distances tofour nearby Cepheids. For three additional stars, we obtained averagevalues of their angular diameters. Based on these new measurements andalready existing data, we derived calibrations of the Period-Luminosityand Period-Radius relations. We also obtained reliable surfacebrightness-color relations, that can be employed for the infraredsurface brightness version of the BW method. Elemental Abundance Ratios in Stars of the Outer Galactic Disk. III. CepheidsWe present metallicities, [Fe/H], and elemental abundance ratios,[X/Fe], for a sample of 24 Cepheids in the outer Galactic disk based onhigh-resolution echelle spectra. The sample members have galactocentricdistances covering 12 kpc<=RGC<=17.2 kpc, making themthe most distant Galactic Cepheids upon which detailed abundanceanalyses have been performed. We find subsolar ratios of [Fe/H] andoverabundances of [α/Fe], [La/Fe], and [Eu/Fe] in the programstars. All abundance ratios exhibit a dispersion that exceeds themeasurement uncertainties. As seen in our previous studies of old openclusters and field giants, enhanced ratios of [α/Fe] and [Eu/Fe]reveal that recent star formation has taken place in the outer disk withType II supernovae preferentially contributing ejecta to theinterstellar medium and with Type Ia supernovae playing only a minorrole. The enhancements for La suggest that asymptotic giant branch starshave contributed to the chemical evolution of the outer Galactic disk.Some of the young Cepheids are more metal-poor than the older openclusters and field stars at comparable galactocentric distances. Thisdemonstrates that the outer disk is not the end result of the isolatedevolution of an ensemble of gas and stars. We showed previously that theolder open clusters and field stars reached a basement metallicity atabout 10-11 kpc. The younger Cepheids reach the same metallicity but atlarger galactocentric distances, roughly 14 kpc. This suggests that theGalactic disk has been growing with time, as predicted from numericalsimulations. The outer disk Cepheids appear to exhibit a bimodaldistribution for [Fe/H] and [α/Fe]. Most of the Cepheids continuethe trends with galactocentric distance exhibited by S. M. Andrievsky'slarger Cepheid sample, and we refer to these stars as the GalacticCepheids.'' A minority of the Cepheids show considerably lower [Fe/H]and higher [α/Fe], and we refer to these stars as the MergerCepheids.'' One signature of a merger event would be compositiondifferences between the Galactic and Merger Cepheids. The Cepheidssatisfy this requirement, and we speculate that the distinctcompositions suggest that the Merger Cepheids may have formed under theinfluence of significant merger or accretion events. The short lifetimesof the Cepheids reveal that the merger event may be ongoing, with theMonoceros Ring and Canis Major galaxy being possible merger candidates.This paper makes use of observations obtained at the National OpticalAstronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association ofUniversities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under contract fromthe National Science Foundation. We also employ data products from theTwo Micron All Sky Survey, which is a joint project of the University ofMassachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center,California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronauticsand Space Administration and the National Science Foundation. Extended envelopes around Galactic Cepheids. I. ℓ Carinae from near and mid-infrared interferometry with the VLTIWe present the results of long-baseline interferometric observations ofthe bright southern Cepheid ℓ Carinae in the infrared N (8-13 μm)and K (2.0-2.4 μm) bands, using the MIDI and VINCI instruments of theVLT Interferometer. We resolve in the N band a large circumstellarenvelope (CSE) that we model with a Gaussian of 3 Rstar(≈500 Rȯ ≈ 2-3 AU) half width at half maximum. Thesignature of this envelope is also detected in our K band data as adeviation from a single limb darkened disk visibility function. Thesuperimposition of a Gaussian CSE on the limb darkened disk model of theCepheid star results in a significantly better fit of our VINCI data.The extracted CSE parameters in the K band are a half width at halfmaximum of 2 Rstar, comparable to the N band model, and atotal brightness of 4% of the stellar photosphere. A possibility is thatthis CSE is linked to the relatively large mass loss rate of ℓ Car.Though its physical nature cannot be determined from our data, wediscuss an analogy with the molecular envelopes of RV Tauri, redsupergiants and Miras. A spectroscopic study of bright southern Cepheids - a high-resolution view of Cepheid atmospheresWe present high-resolution spectroscopic observations andspecies-by-species radial velocities of a number of southern Cepheids.The stars (BP Cir, V350 Sgr, AX Cir, V636 Sco, W Sgr, S Mus, β Dor,TT Aql, Y Oph, YZ Car, SW Vel, X Pup, T Mon and l Car) were observed aspart of a long-term programme at Mt John University Observatory. Radialvelocities were determined with the line bisector technique, and have aprecision of ~300 ms-1. Velocity differences as large as 30kms-1 were found for Hα and CaII when referenced to themetallic line velocity curves, but more subtle variations (of 1-2kms-1) were also detected in many other species. Pulsationalphase anticorrelations are found between lines of SiII and BaII,confirming the propagation time delay between line-forming layersproducing these two species. We find that the amplitude and phasedifferences between the various species increase with period. Predicting accurate stellar angular diameters by the near-infrared surface brightness techniqueI report on the capabilities of the near-infrared (near-IR) surfacebrightness technique to predict reliable stellar angular diameters asaccurate as <~2 per cent using standard broad-band Johnson photometryin the colour range -0.1 <= (V-K)O<= 3.7 includingstars of A, F, G, K spectral type. This empirical approach is fast toapply and leads to estimated photometric diameters in very goodagreement with recent high-precision interferometric diametermeasurements available for non-variable dwarfs and giants, as well asfor Cepheid variables. Then I compare semi-empirical diameters predictedby model-dependent photometric and spectrophotometric (SP) methods withnear-IR surface brightness diameters adopted as empirical referencecalibrators. The overall agreement between all these methods is withinapproximately +/-5 per cent, confirming previous works. However, on thesame scale of accuracy, there is also evidence for systematic shiftspresumably as a result of an incorrect representation of the stellareffective temperature in the model-dependent results. I also comparemeasurements of spectroscopic radii with near-IR surface brightnessradii of Cepheids with known distances. Spectroscopic radii are found tobe affected by a scatter as significant as >~9 per cent, which is atleast three times greater than the formal error currently claimed by thespectroscopic technique. In contrast, pulsation radii predicted by theperiod-radius (PR) relation according to the Cepheid period result aresignificantly less dispersed, indicating a quite small scatter as aresult of the finite width of the Cepheid instability strip, as expectedfrom pulsation theory. The resulting low level of noise stronglyconfirms our previous claims that the pulsation parallaxes are the mostaccurate empirical distances presently available for Galactic andextragalactic Cepheids. Welchen Lichtwechsel kann ein Beobachter bei Cepheiden erwarten?Not Available Radial Velocities of Galactic CepheidsWe report 490 radial velocities for 16 Galactic Cepheid variables. Thetypical uncertainty of a single velocity is +/-0.40 km s-1.Comparison with published velocities shows excellent agreement. Two ofthe Cepheids (Z Lac, S Sge) are known binaries and exhibit orbitalvelocity changes in our observing interval. Cepheid Pulsation Models at Varying Metallicity and ΔY/ΔZIn this paper we present an extended set of nonlinear convectivepulsation models at varying metallicity and ΔY/ΔZ ratio. Thepredicted instability strip and bolometric light curves are discussed bycomparing the new models with our previous ones. In particular, thedependence on both metal and helium abundances is investigated. Bytransforming the bolometric light curves into the observational bands,we are able to derive both period-color-luminosity and Wesenheitrelations for each selected chemical composition. Syntheticperiod-luminosity relations are obtained by populating the instabilitystrip according to specific assumptions on the number of pulsators andthe mass distribution. These theoretical results are compared withrecent accurate data by Sandage et al. and Kervella et al. in order totest the predictive capabilities of the models. We confirm our previousresults that the theoretical metallicity correction to the Key ProjectCepheid distance scale depends on both the period range andΔY/ΔZ ratio, becoming important for periods longer than 20days and ΔY/ΔZ>1.5. Infrared Surface Brightness Distances to Cepheids: A Comparison of Bayesian and Linear-Bisector CalculationsWe have compared the results of Bayesian statistical calculations andlinear-bisector calculations for obtaining Cepheid distances and radiiby the infrared surface brightness method. We analyzed a set of 38Cepheids using a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo method that had beenrecently studied with a linear-bisector method. The distances obtainedby the two techniques agree to 1.5%+/-0.6%, with the Bayesian distancesbeing larger. The radii agree to 1.1%+/-0.7%, with the Bayesiandeterminations again being larger. We interpret this result asdemonstrating that the two methods yield the same distances and radii.This implies that the short distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud foundin recent linear-bisector studies of Cepheids is not caused bydeficiencies in the mathematical treatment. However, the computeduncertainties in distance and radius for our data set are larger in theBayesian calculation by factors of 1.4-6.7. We give reasons to favor theBayesian computations of the uncertainties. The larger uncertainties canhave a significant impact on interpretation of Cepheid distances andradii obtained from the infrared surface brightness method. Pulsation and Evolutionary Masses of Classical Cepheids. I. Milky Way VariablesWe investigate a selected sample of Galactic classical Cepheids withavailable distance and reddening estimates in the framework of thetheoretical scenario provided by pulsation models, computed with metalabundance Z=0.02, helium content in the range of Y=0.25-0.31, andvarious choices of the stellar mass and luminosity. After transformingthe bolometric light curve of the fundamental models into BVRIJKmagnitudes, we derived analytical relations connecting the pulsationperiod with the stellar mass, the mean (intensity averaged) absolutemagnitude, and the color of the pulsators. These relations are usedtogether with the Cepheid observed absolute magnitudes in order todetermine the pulsation'' mass, Mp, of each individualvariable. The comparison with the evolutionary'' masses,Me,can, given by canonical (no convective core overshooting,no mass loss) models of central He-burning stellar structures revealsthat the Mp/Me,can ratio is correlated with theCepheid period, ranging from ~0.8 at logP=0.5 to ~1 at logP=1.5. Wediscuss the effects of different input physics and/or assumptions on theevolutionary computations, as well as of uncertainties in the adoptedCepheid metal content, distance, and reddening. Eventually, we find thatthe pulsational results can be interpreted in terms of mass loss duringor before the Cepheid phase, whose amount increases as the Cepheidoriginal mass decreases. It vanishes around 13 Msolar andincreases up to ~20% at 4 Msolar. Direct Distances to Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud: Evidence for a Universal Slope of the Period-Luminosity Relation up to Solar AbundanceWe have applied the infrared surface brightness (ISB) technique toderive distances to 13 Cepheid variables in the LMC that span a periodrange from 3 to 42 days. From the absolute magnitudes of the variablescalculated from these distances, we find that the LMC Cepheids definetight period-luminosity (PL) relations in the V, I, W, J, and K bandsthat agree exceedingly well with the corresponding Galactic PL relationsderived from the same technique and are significantly steeper than theLMC PL relations in these bands observed by the OGLE-II Project in V, I,and W and by Persson and coworkers in J and K. We find that the LMCCepheid distance moduli we derive, after correcting them for the tilt ofthe LMC bar, depend significantly on the period of the stars, in thesense that the shortest period Cepheids have distance moduli near 18.3,whereas the longest period Cepheids are found to lie near 18.6. Sincesuch a period dependence of the tilt-corrected LMC distance modulishould not exist, there must be a systematic, period-dependent error inthe ISB technique not discovered in previous work. We identify as themost likely culprit the p-factor, which is used to convert the observedCepheid radial velocities into their pulsational velocities. Bydemanding (1) a zero slope on the distance modulus versus period diagramand (2) a zero mean difference between the ISB and ZAMS fitting distancemoduli of a sample of well-established Galactic cluster Cepheids, wefind that p=1.58(+/-0.02)-0.15(+/-0.05)logP, with the p-factor dependingmore strongly on Cepheid period (and thus luminosity) than indicated bypast theoretical calculations. When we recalculate the distances of theLMC Cepheids with the revised p-factor law suggested by our data, we notonly obtain consistent distance moduli for all stars but also decreasethe slopes in the various LMC PL relations (and particularly in thereddening-independent K and W bands) to values that are consistent withthe values observed by OGLE-II and Persson and coworkers. From our 13Cepheids, we determine the LMC distance modulus to be 18.56+/-0.04 mag,with an additional estimated systematic uncertainty of ~0.1 mag. Usingthe same corrected p-factor law to redetermine the distances of theGalactic Cepheids, the new Galactic PL relations are also foundconsistent with the observed optical and near-infrared PL relations inthe LMC. Our main conclusion from the ISB analysis of the LMC Cepheidsample is that, within current uncertainties, there seems to be nosignificant difference between the slopes of the PL relations in theMilky Way and LMC. With literature data on more metal-poor systems, itseems now possible to conclude that the slope of the Cepheid PL relationis independent of metallicity in the broad range in [Fe/H] from -1.0 dexto solar abundance, within a small uncertainty. The new evidence fromthe first ISB analysis of a sizable sample of LMC Cepheids suggests thatthe previous, steeper Galactic PL relations obtained from this techniquewere caused by an underestimation of the period dependence in themodel-based p-factor law used in the previous work. We emphasize,however, that our current results must be substantiated by newtheoretical models capable of explaining the steeper period dependenceof the p-factor law, and we will also need data on more LMC fieldCepheids to rule out remaining concerns about the validity of ourcurrent interpretation. Phase-dependent Variation of the Fundamental Parameters of Cepheids. II. Periods Longer than 10 DaysWe present the results of a detailed multiphase spectroscopic analysisof 14 classical Cepheids with pulsation periods longer than 10 days. Foreach star, we have derived phased values of effective temperature,surface gravity, microturbulent velocity, and elemental abundances. Weshow that the elemental abundance results for these Cepheids areconsistent for all pulsational phases. Mean Angular Diameters and Angular Diameter Amplitudes of Bright CepheidsWe predict mean angular diameters and amplitudes of angular diametervariations for all monoperiodic PopulationI Cepheids brighter than=8.0 mag. The catalog is intended to aid selecting mostpromising Cepheid targets for future interferometric observations. First results from the ESO VLTI calibrators programThe ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) is one of the leadinginterferometric facilities. It is equipped with several 8.2 and 1.8 mtelescopes, a large number of baselines up to 200 m, and with severalsubsystems designed to enable high quality measurements and to improvesignificantly the limits of sensitivities currently available tolong-baseline interferometry. The full scientific potential of the VLTIcan be exploited only if a consistent set of good quality calibrators isavailable. For this, a large number of observations of potentialcalibrators have been obtained during the commissioning phase of theVLTI. These data are publicly available. We briefly describe theinterferometer, the VINCI instrument used for the observations, the dataflow from acquisition to processed results, and we present and commenton the volume of observations gathered and scrutinized. The result is alist of 191 calibrator candidates, for which a total of 12 066observations can be deemed of satisfactory quality. We present a generalstatistical analysis of this sample, using as a starting point theangular diameters previously available in the literature. We derive thegeneral characteristics of the VLTI transfer function, and its trendwith time in the period 2001 through mid-2004. A second paper will bedevoted to a detailed investigation of a selected sample, aimed atestablishing a VLTI-based homogeneous system of calibrators. CHARM2: An updated Catalog of High Angular Resolution MeasurementsWe present an update of the Catalog of High Angular ResolutionMeasurements (CHARM, Richichi & Percheron \cite{CHARM}, A&A,386, 492), which includes results available until July 2004. CHARM2 is acompilation of direct measurements by high angular resolution methods,as well as indirect estimates of stellar diameters. Its main goal is toprovide a reference list of sources which can be used for calibrationand verification observations with long-baseline optical and near-IRinterferometers. Single and binary stars are included, as are complexobjects from circumstellar shells to extragalactic sources. The presentupdate provides an increase of almost a factor of two over the previousedition. Additionally, it includes several corrections and improvements,as well as a cross-check with the valuable public release observationsof the ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). A total of 8231entries for 3238 unique sources are now present in CHARM2. Thisrepresents an increase of a factor of 3.4 and 2.0, respectively, overthe contents of the previous version of CHARM.The catalog is only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/431/773 Cepheid pulsations resolved by the VLTI.Not Available Improved Baade-Wesselink surface brightness relationsRecent, and older accurate, data on (limb-darkened) angular diameters iscompiled for 221 stars, as well as BVRIJK[12][25] magnitudes for thoseobjects, when available. Nine stars (all M-giants or supergiants)showing excess in the [12-25] colour are excluded from the analysis asthis may indicate the presence of dust influencing the optical andnear-infrared colours as well. Based on this large sample,Baade-Wesselink surface brightness (SB) relations are presented fordwarfs, giants, supergiants and dwarfs in the optical and near-infrared.M-giants are found to follow different SB relations from non-M-giants,in particular in V versus V-R. The preferred relation for non-M-giantsis compared to the earlier relation by Fouqué and Gieren (basedon 10 stars) and Nordgren et al. (based on 57 stars). Increasing thesample size does not lead to a lower rms value. It is shown that theresiduals do not correlate with metallicity at a significant level. Thefinally adopted observed angular diameters are compared to thosepredicted by Cohen et al. for 45 stars in common, and there isreasonable overall, and good agreement when θ < 6 mas.Finally, I comment on the common practice in the literature to average,and then fix, the zero-point of the V versus V-K, V versus V-R and Kversus J-K relations, and then rederive the slopes. Such a commonzero-point at zero colour is not expected from model atmospheres for theV-R colour and depends on gravity. Relations derived in this way may bebiased. Period-luminosity relations for Galactic Cepheid variables with independent distance measurementsIn this paper, we derive the period-luminosity (PL) relation forGalactic Cepheids with recent independent distance measurements fromopen cluster, Barnes-Evans surface brightness, interferometry and HubbleSpace Telescope astrometry techniques. Our PL relation confirms theresults from recent works, which showed that the Galactic Cepheidsfollow a different PL relation to their Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)counterparts. Our results also show that the slope of the Galactic PLrelation is inconsistent with the LMC slope with more than 95 per centconfidence level. We apply this Galactic PL relation to find thedistance to NGC 4258. Our result of μo= 29.49 +/- 0.06 mag(random error) agrees at the ~1.4σ level with the geometricaldistance of μgeo= 29.28 +/- 0.15 mag from water masermeasurements. Cepheidenbeobachtung in der BAV: Ruckblick und Ausblick.Not Available Beobachtungsergebnisse Bundesdeutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur Veranderlichen Serne e.V.Not Available The Indo-US Library of Coudé Feed Stellar SpectraWe have obtained spectra for 1273 stars using the 0.9 m coudéfeed telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. This telescope feedsthe coudé spectrograph of the 2.1 m telescope. The spectra havebeen obtained with the no. 5 camera of the coudé spectrograph anda Loral 3K×1K CCD. Two gratings have been used to provide spectralcoverage from 3460 to 9464 Å, at a resolution of ~1 Å FWHMand at an original dispersion of 0.44 Å pixel-1. For885 stars we have complete spectra over the entire 3460 to 9464 Åwavelength region (neglecting small gaps of less than 50 Å), andpartial spectral coverage for the remaining stars. The 1273 stars havebeen selected to provide broad coverage of the atmospheric parametersTeff, logg, and [Fe/H], as well as spectral type. The goal ofthe project is to provide a comprehensive library of stellar spectra foruse in the automated classification of stellar and galaxy spectra and ingalaxy population synthesis. In this paper we discuss thecharacteristics of the spectral library, viz., details of theobservations, data reduction procedures, and selection of stars. We alsopresent a few illustrations of the quality and information available inthe spectra. The first version of the complete spectral library is nowpublicly available from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory(NOAO) via ftp and http. The Angular Size of the Cepheid l Carinae: A Comparison of the Interferometric and Surface Brightness TechniquesRecent interferometric observations of the brightest and angularlylargest classical Cepheid, l Carinae, with ESO's Very Large TelescopeInterferometer have resolved with high precision the variation of itsangular diameter with phase. We compare the measured angular diametercurve to the one that we derive by an application of theBaade-Wesselink-type infrared surface brightness technique and find anear-perfect agreement between the two curves. The mean angulardiameters of l Car from the two techniques agree very well within theirtotal error bars (1.5%), as do the derived distances (4%). This resultis an indication that the calibration of the surface brightnessrelations used in the distance determination of far-away Cepheids is notaffected by large biases. Phase-dependent Variation of the Fundamental Parameters of Cepheids. I. Periods from 6 to 10 DaysWe present the results of a detailed multiphase spectroscopic analysisof 10 classical Cepheids with pulsation periods between 6 and 10 days.For each star, we have derived phased values of effective temperature,surface gravity, microturbulent velocity, and elemental abundances. Weshow that the elemental abundance results for intermediate-periodCepheids are consistent for all pulsational phases. Cepheid distances from infrared long-baseline interferometry. III. Calibration of the surface brightness-color relationsThe recent VINCI/VLTI observations presented in Paper I have nearlydoubled the total number of available angular diameter measurements ofCepheids. Taking advantage of the significantly larger color rangecovered by these observations, we derive in the present paper highprecision calibrations of the surface brightness-color relations usingexclusively Cepheid observations. These empirical laws make it possibleto determine the distance to Cepheids through a Baade-Wesselink typetechnique. The least dispersed relations are based on visible-infraredcolors, for instance FV(V-K) = -0.1336 ± 0.0008 (V-K)+ 3.9530 ± 0.0006}. The convergence of the Cepheid (this work)and dwarf star (Kervella et al. \cite{kervella04c}) visible-infraredsurface brightness-color relations is strikingly good. The astrophysicaldispersion of these relations appears to be very small, and below thepresent detection sensitivity.Table \ref{table_measurements1} is only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org Cepheid distances from infrared long-baseline interferometry. II. Calibration of the period-radius and period-luminosity relationsUsing our interferometric angular diameter measurements of sevenclassical Cepheids reported in Kervella et al. (\cite{kervella04},A&A, 416, 941 - Paper I), complemented by previously existingmeasurements, we derive new calibrations of the Cepheid period-radius(P-R) and period-luminosity (P-L) relations. We obtain a P-R relation oflog R = [0.767 ± 0.009] log P + [1.091 ± 0.011], only 1σ away from the relation obtained by Gieren et al.(\cite{gieren98}, ApJ, 496, 17). We therefore confirm their P-R relationat a level of Δ(log R) = ± 0.02. We also derive an originalcalibration of the P-L relation, assuming the slopes derived by Gierenet al. (\cite{gieren98}) from LMC Cepheids, αK = -3.267± 0.042 and αV = -2.769 ± 0.073. With aP-L relation of the form Mλ =αλ (log P - 1) + βλ, weobtain log P = 1 reference points of βK = -5.904± 0.063 and βV = -4.209 ± 0.075. Ourcalibration in the V band is statistically identical to the geometricalresult of Lanoix et al. (\cite{lanoix99}, MNRAS, 308, 969). Improvement of the CORS method for Cepheids radii determination based on Strömgren photometryIn this paper we present a modified version of the CORS method based ona new calibration of the Surface Brightness function in theStrömgren photometric system. The method has been tested by meansof synthetic light and radial velocity curves derived from nonlinearpulsation models. Detailed simulations have been performed to take intoaccount the quality of real observed curves as well as possible shiftsbetween photometric and radial velocity data. The method has been thenapplied to a sample of Galactic Cepheids with Strömgren photometryand radial velocity data to derive the radii and a new PR relation. As aresult we find log R = (1.19 ± 0.09) + (0.74 ± 0.11) logP (rms = 0.07). The comparison between our result and previous estimatesin the literature is satisfactory. Better results are expected from theadoption of improved model atmosphere grids. The metallicity dependence of the Cepheid PL-relationA sample of 37 Galactic, 10 LMC and 6 SMC cepheids is compiled for whichindividual metallicity estimates exist and BVIK photometry in almost allcases. The Galactic cepheids all have an individual distance estimateavailable. For the MC objects different sources of photometry arecombined to obtain improved periods and mean magnitudes. Amulti-parameter Period-Luminosity relation is fitted to the data whichalso solves for the distance to the LMC and SMC. When all three galaxiesare considered, without metallicity effect, a significant quadratic termin log P is found, as previously observed and also predicted in sometheoretical calculations. For the present sample it is empiricallydetermined that for log P < 1.65 linear PL-relations may be adopted,but this restricts the sample to only 4 LMC and 1 SMC cepheid.Considering the Galactic sample a metallicity effect is found in thezero point in the VIWK PL-relation (-0.6 ± 0.4 or -0.8 ±0.3 mag/dex depending on the in- or exclusion of one object), in thesense that metal-rich cepheids are brighter. The small significance ismostly due to the fact that the Galactic sample spans a narrowmetallicity range. The error is to a significant part due to the errorin the metallicity determinations and not to the error in the fit.Including the 5 MC cepheids broadens the observed metallicity range anda metallity effect of about -0.27 ± 0.08 mag/dex in the zeropoint is found in VIWK, in agreement with some previous empiricalestimates, but now derived using direct metallicity determinations forthe cepheids themselves. Cepheid distances from infrared long-baseline interferometry. I. VINCI/VLTI observations of seven Galactic CepheidsWe report the angular diameter measurements of seven classical Cepheids,X Sgr, η Aql, W Sgr, ζ Gem, β Dor, Y Oph and ℓ Carthat we have obtained with the VINCI instrument, installed at ESO's VLTInterferometer (VLTI). We also present reprocessed archive data obtainedwith the FLUOR/IOTA instrument on ζ Gem, in order to improve thephase coverage of our observations. We obtain average limb darkenedangular diameter values of /line{θLD}[X Sgr] = 1.471± 0.033 mas, /line{θLD[η Aql] = 1.839± 0.028 mas, /line{θLD}[W Sgr] = 1.312 ±0.029 mas, /line{θLD}[β Dor] = 1.891 ±0.024 mas, /line{θLD}[ζ Gem] =1.747 ±0.061 mas, /line{θLD}[Y Oph] = 1.437 ± 0.040mas, and /line{θLD}[ℓ Car] = 2.988 ± 0.012mas. For four of these stars, η Aql, W Sgr, β Dor, and ℓCar, we detect the pulsational variation of their angular diameter. Thisenables us to compute directly their distances, using a modified versionof the Baade-Wesselink method: d[η Aql] =276+55-38 pc, d[W Sgr] =379+216-130 pc, d[β Dor] =345+175-80 pc, d[ℓ Car] =603+24-19 pc. The stated error bars arestatistical in nature. Applying a hybrid method, that makes use of theGieren et al. (\cite{gieren98}) Period-Radius relation to estimate thelinear diameters, we obtain the following distances (statistical andsystematic error bars are mentioned): d[X Sgr] = 324 ± 7 ±17 pc, d[η Aql] = 264 ± 4 ± 14 pc, d[W Sgr] = 386± 9 ± 21 pc, d[β Dor] = 326 ± 4 ± 19pc, d[ζ Gem] = 360 ± 13 ± 22 pc, d[Y Oph] = 648± 17 ± 47 pc, d[ℓ Car] = 542 ± 2 ± 49pc.Tables 3 to 10 are only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org The effect of metallicity on the Cepheid Period-Luminosity relation from a Baade-Wesselink analysis of Cepheids in the Galaxy and in the Small Magellanic CloudWe have applied the near-IR Barnes-Evans realization of theBaade-Wesselink method as calibrated by Fouqué & Gieren(\cite{FG97}) to five metal-poor Cepheids with periods between 13 and 17days in the Small Magellanic Cloud as well as to a sample of 34 GalacticCepheids to determine the effect of metallicity on the period-luminosity(P-L) relation. For ten of the Galactic Cepheids we present new accurateand well sampled radial-velocity curves. The Baade-Wesselink analysisprovides accurate individual distances and luminosities for the Cepheidsin the two samples, allowing us to constrain directly, in a purelydifferential way, the metallicity effect on the Cepheid P-L relation.For the Galactic Cepheids we provide a new set of P-L relations whichhave zero-points in excellent agreement with astrometric andinterferometric determinations. These relations can be used directly forthe determination of distances to solar-metallicity samples of Cepheidsin distant galaxies, circumventing any corrections for metallicityeffects on the zero-point and slope of the P-L relation. We findevidence for both such metallicity effects in our data. Comparing ourtwo samples of Cepheids at a mean period of about 15 days, we find aweak effect of metallicity on the luminosity similar to that adopted bythe HST Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale. The effect issmaller for the V band, where we find Δ MV/Δ[Fe/H] = -0.21±0.19, and larger for the Wesenheit index W, wherewe find Δ MW/Δ [Fe/H] = -0.29±0.19. Forthe I and K bands we find Δ MI/Δ [Fe/H] =-0.23± 0.19 and Δ MK/Δ [Fe/H] =-0.21± 0.19, respectively. The error estimates are 1 σstatistical errors. It seems now well established that metal-poorCepheids with periods longer than about 10 days are intrinsicallyfainter in all these bands than their metal-rich counterparts ofidentical period. Correcting the LMC distance estimate of Fouquéet al. (\cite{FSG03}) for this metallicity effect leads to a revised LMCdistance modulus of (m-M)_0 = 18.48± 0.07, which is also inexcellent agreement with the value of (m-M)_0 = 18.50± 0.10adopted by the Key Project. From our SMC Cepheid distances we determinethe SMC distance to be 18.88±0.13 magirrespective of metallicity.Some of the observations reported here were obtained with the MultipleMirror Telescope, operated jointly by the Smithsonian Institution andthe University of Arizona.Tables A.2-A.11 are only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/415/531
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