Period-Luminosity Relations For Magellanic Clouds Cepheids Based on OGLE-III Data: A Comparison

TL;DR

This study derives multi-band period-luminosity relations for Cepheids in the Magellanic Clouds using OGLE-III, 2MASS, and Spitzer data, and compares the P-L slopes between the two galaxies.

Contribution

It provides updated multi-band P-L relations for LMC and SMC Cepheids and compares their slopes, enhancing understanding of Cepheid properties across different environments.

Findings

P-L slopes in LMC and SMC are consistent within ~2.5sigma

Multi-band P-L relations are derived from OGLE-III, 2MASS, and Spitzer data

Extinction correction applied to mean magnitudes

Abstract

The period-luminosity (P-L) relation for Cepheid variables is important in modern astrophysics. In this work, we present the multi-band P-L relations derived from the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) Cepheids, based on the latest release of OGLE-III catalogs. In addition to the V I band mean magnitudes adopted from OGLE-III catalogs, we also cross-matched the LMC and SMC Cepheids to the 2MASS point source catalogs and publicly available Spitzer catalogs from SAGE program. Mean magnitudes for these Cepheids were corrected for extinction using available extinction maps. When comparing the P-L slopes, we found that the P-L slopes in these two galaxies are consistent with each others within ~2.5sigma level.