A Preliminary Calibration of the RR Lyrae Period-Luminosity Relation at Mid-Infrared Wavelengths: WISE Data

TL;DR

This study calibrates the mid-infrared Period-Luminosity relation for RR Lyrae stars using WISE data and HST parallaxes, providing new relations at 3.4, 4.6, and 12 micrometers.

Contribution

First calibration of RR Lyrae mid-infrared PL relations at WISE wavelengths using geometric parallaxes, extending previous near-infrared work.

Findings

Derived PL relations with consistent slopes across bands.

No significant metallicity dependence found in residuals.

Results align with extrapolated K-band relations.

Abstract

Using time-resolved, mid-infrared data from WISE and geometric parallaxes from HST for four Galactic RR Lyrae variables, we derive the following Population II Period-Luminosity (PL) relations for the WISE [W1], [W2] and [W3] bands at 3.4, 4.6 & 12 um, respectively: M[W1] = -2.44 (+/- 0.95) x logP - 1.26 (+/- 0.25) sigma = 0.10 M[W2] = -2.55 (+/- 0.89) x logP - 1.29 (+/- 0.23) sigma = 0.10 M[W3] = -2.58 (+/- 0.97) x logP - 1.32 (+/- 0.25) sigma = 0.10 The slopes and the scatter around the fits are consistent with a smooth extrapolation of those same quantities from previously-published K-band observations at 2.2 um, where the asymptotic (long-wavelength) behavior is consistent with a Period-Radius relation having a slope of 0.5. No obvious correlation with metallicity (spanning 0.4 dex in [Fe/H]) is found in the residuals of the four calibrating RR Lyrae stars about the mean PL regression line.