New theoretical Period-Luminosity-Metallicity relations for RR Lyrae in the Rubin-LSST filters

TL;DR

This paper develops updated theoretical Period-Luminosity-Metallicity relations for RR Lyrae stars in Rubin-LSST filters, enabling improved distance and metallicity measurements with future observations.

Contribution

It provides new theoretical relations for RR Lyrae stars in Rubin-LSST filters, including metallicity-dependent Period-Luminosity and Wesenheit relations, based on extensive pulsation models.

Findings

Colors correlate linearly with metallicity.

Period-Luminosity relations depend on metallicity in red filters.

New metallicity relations for absolute magnitudes are derived.

Abstract

The revolutionary power of future Rubin-LSST observations will allow us to significantly improve the physics of pulsating stars, including RR Lyrae. In this context, an updated theoretical scenario predicting all the relevant pulsation observables in the corresponding photometric filters is mandatory. The bolometric light curves based on a recently computed extensive set of nonlinear convective pulsation models for RR Lyrae stars, covering a broad range in metal content and transformed into the Rubin-LSST photometric system. Predicted Rubin-LSST mean magnitudes and pulsation amplitudes have been adopted to built the Bailey diagrams (luminosity amplitude vs period) and the color-color diagrams in these bands. The current findings indicate that the gLSST-rLSST, rLSST-iLSST colors obey to a well defined linear relation with the metal content. Moreover, the Period Luminosity relations display in the reddest filters (rLSST,iLSST,zLSST,yLSST) a significant dependence on the assumed metal abundance. In particular, more metal-rich RR Lyrae are predicted to be fainter at fixed period. Metal-dependent Period-Wesenheit relations for different combinations of optical and NIR filters are also provided. These represent powerful tools to infer individual distances independently of reddening uncertainties, once the metal abundance is known and no relevant deviations from the adopted extinction law occur. Finally, we also derived new linear and quadratic absolute magnitude metallicity relations (gLSST vs [Fe/H]) and the metallicity coefficient is consistent with previous findings concerning the B and the V band.