Uncertainties on the theoretical predictions for classical Cepheid pulsational quantities

TL;DR

This study assesses how uncertainties in physical inputs and chemical compositions affect theoretical predictions of Cepheid pulsational properties and the Period-Luminosity relation, impacting distance measurements and cosmological parameters.

Contribution

It provides a quantitative analysis of the effects of model uncertainties on Cepheid pulsational predictions, highlighting the significance of overshooting and mass loss.

Findings

Uncertainties in H and He burning rates have negligible effects.

LMC chemical composition uncertainties significantly affect the instability strip morphology.

Overshooting and mass loss notably influence pulsational properties and distance scale calibration.

Abstract

The expected distribution of Cepheids within the instability strip is affected by several model inputs, reflecting upon the predicted Period-Luminosity relation. On the basis of new and updated sets of evolutionary and pulsational models, we quantitatively evaluated the effects on the theoretical PL relation of current uncertainties on the chemical abundances of Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud and on several physical assumptions adopted in the evolutionary models. We analysed how the different factors influence the evolutionary and pulsational observables and the resulting PL relation. As a result, we found that present uncertainties on the most relevant H and He burning reaction rates do not influence in a relevant way the loop extension in temperature. On the contrary, current uncertainties on the LMC chemical composition significantly affect the loop extension and also reflect in the morphology of the instability strip; however their influence on the predicted pulsational parameters is negligible. We also discussed how overshooting and mass loss influence the ML relation and the pulsational parameters. In summary, the present uncertainties on the physical inputs adopted in the evolutionary codes and in the LMC chemical composition are negligible for the prediction of the main pulsational properties; the inclusion of overshooting in the previous H burning phase and/or of mass loss is expected to significantly change the resulting theoretical pulsational scenario for Cepheids, as well as the calibration of their distance scale. These systematic effects are expected to influence the theoretical Cepheid calibration of the secondary distance indicators and in turn the resulting evaluation of the Hubble constant.