Rotation and the Cepheid Mass Discrepancy

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that stellar rotation plays a key role in resolving the Cepheid mass discrepancy and influences the period-luminosity relation, impacting cosmic distance measurements and the Hubble constant calibration.

Contribution

It shows how rotation combined with evolutionary status can solve the Cepheid mass discrepancy and discusses its effects on the period-luminosity relation.

Findings

Rotation significantly affects Cepheid observable quantities

Rotation helps resolve the Cepheid mass discrepancy

Rotation impacts the period-luminosity relation

Abstract

We recently showed that rotation significantly affects most observable Cepheid quantities, and that rotation, in combination with the evolutionary status of the star, can resolve the long-standing Cepheid mass discrepancy problem. We therefore provide a brief overview of our results regarding the problem of Cepheid masses. We also briefly mention the impact of rotation on the Cepheid period-luminosity(-color) relation, which is crucial for determining extragalactic distances, and thus for calibrating the Hubble constant.