A differential RR lyrae line-of-sight distance between M31 and M33

We present a purely differential line-of-sight distance between M31 and M33 using ab-type RR Lyrae variables observed in each galaxy by the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys in the F606W filter. Using 1481 RR Lyraes in 13 M31 fields and 181 RR Lyraes in 6 M33 fields, and placing all of these stars on a uniform photometric scale with internally consistent corrections for metal abundance and extinction, we find a relative absolute distance modulus of Δ(m-M)o = –0.298 ± 0.016 in the sense of (m-M)o, M31 – (m-M)o, M33. Adopting an absolute distance modulus of (m-M)o=24.46±0.10 for M31 places M33 115 kpc beyond M31 in line-of-sight distance.

Period-Age-Metallicity and Period-Age-Color-Metallicity relations for Classical Cepheids: an application to the Gaia EDR3 sample

Based on updated pulsation models for Classical Cepheids, computed for various assumptions about the metallicity and helium abundance, roughly representative of pulsators in the Small Magellanic Cloud (Z=0.004 and Y=0.25), Large Magellanic Cloud (Z=0.008 and Y=0.25), and M31 (Z=0.03 and Y=0.28), and self-consistent updated evolutionary predictions, we derived Period-Age and multi-band Period-Age-Color relations that also take into account variations in the Mass-Luminosity relation. These results, combined with those previously derived for Galactic Cepheids, were used to investigate the metallicity effect when using these variables as age indicators. In particular, we found that a variation in the metal abundance affects both the slope and the zero point of the above-mentioned relations. The new relations were applied to a sample of Gaia Early Data Release 3 Classical Cepheids. The retrieved distribution of the individual ages confirms that a brighter Mass-Luminosity relation produces older ages and that First Overtone pulsators are found to be concentrated towards older ages with respect to the Fundamental ones at a fixed Mass-Luminosity relation. Moreover, the inclusion of a metallicity term in the Period-Age and Period-Age-Color relations slightly modifies the predicted ages. In particular, the age distribution of the selected sample of Galactic Cepheids is found to be shifted towards slightly older values, when the F-mode canonical relations are considered, with respect to the case at a fixed solar chemical composition. A marginally opposite dependence can be found in the noncanonical F-mode and canonical FO-mode cases.

X-raying the galaxy pair Arp 41: no collision in NGC 1232 and three ultraluminous sources in NGC 1232A

ABSTRACT We studied the apparent galaxy pair NGC 1232/NGC 1232A with Chandra, looking for evidence of interactions and collisions. We report that there is no cloud of diffuse emission in NGC 1232, contrary to previous claims in the literature. Instead, we find that the small ‘companion’ galaxy NGC 1232A contains three ultraluminous X-ray sources with peak 0.3–10 keV luminosities above 1040 erg s−1 (assuming a cosmological distance of ≈93 Mpc for this galaxy). For its mass, morphology, metal abundance, and bright ULX population, NGC 1232A is analogous to the more nearby late-type spiral NGC 1313.

A precise asteroseismic age and metallicity for HD 139614: a pre-main-sequence star with a protoplanetary disc in Upper Centaurus–Lupus

ABSTRACT HD 139614 is known to be a ∼14-Myr-old, possibly pre-main-sequence star in the Sco-Cen OB association in the Upper Centaurus-Lupus subgroup, with a slightly warped circumstellar disc containing ring structures hinting at one or more planets. The star’s chemical abundance pattern is metal-deficient except for volatile elements, which places it in the λ Boo class and suggests it has recently accreted gas-rich but dust-poor material. We identify seven dipole and four radial pulsation modes among its δ Sct pulsations using the TESS light curve and an échelle diagram. Precision modelling with the mesa stellar evolution and gyre stellar oscillation programs confirms it is on the pre-main sequence. Asteroseismic, grid-based modelling suggests an age of 10.75 ± 0.77 Myr, a mass of 1.52 ± 0.02 M ⊙, and a global metal abundance of Z = 0.0100 ± 0.0010. This represents the first asteroseismic determination of the bulk metallicity of a λ Boo star. The precise age and metallicity offer a benchmark for age estimates in Upper Centaurus–Lupus, and for understanding disc retention and planet formation around intermediate-mass stars.

Exploring the hot gaseous halo around an extremely massive and relativistic jet launching spiral galaxy with XMM−Newton

ABSTRACT We present a deep XMM−Newton observation of the extremely massive, rapidly rotating, relativistic-jet-launching spiral galaxy 2MASX J23453268−0449256. Diffuse X-ray emission from the hot gaseous halo around the galaxy is robustly detected out to a radius of 160 kpc, corresponding roughly to 35 per cent of the virial radius (≈450 kpc). We fit the X-ray emission with the standard isothermal β model, and it is found that the enclosed gas mass within 160 kpc is $1.15_{-0.24}^{+0.22} \times 10^{11} \, \rm {M}_{\odot }$. Extrapolating the gas mass profile out to the virial radius, the estimated gas mass is $8.25_{-1.77}^{+1.62} \times 10^{11} \, \rm {M}_{\odot }$, which makes up roughly 65 per cent of the total baryon mass content of the galaxy. When the stellar mass is considered and accounting for the statistical and systematic uncertainties, the baryon mass fraction within the virial radius is $0.121_{-0.043}^{+0.043}$, in agreement with the universal baryon fraction. The baryon mass fraction is consistent with all baryons falling within r200, or with only half of the baryons falling within r200. Similar to the massive spiral galaxies NGC 1961 and NGC 6753, we find a low value for the metal abundance of ≈ 0.1 Z⊙, which appears uniform with radius. We also detect diffuse X-ray emission associated with the northern and southern lobes, possibly attributed to inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background photons. The estimated energy densities of the electrons and magnetic field in these radio lobes suggest that they are electron-dominated by a factor of 10−200, depending on the choice of the lower cut-off energy of the electron spectrum.

Heavy-metal enrichment of intermediate He-sdOB stars: the pulsators Feige 46 and LS IV–14°116 revisited

Hot subdwarf stars of spectral types O and B represent a poorly understood phase in the evolution of low-mass stars, in particular of close compact binaries. A variety of phenomena are observed, which make them important tools for several astronomical disciplines. For instance, the richness of oscillations of many subdwarfs are important for asteroseismology. Furthermore, hot subdwarfs are among the most chemically peculiar stars known. Two intermediate He-rich hot subdwarf stars, LS IV–14°116 and Feige 46, are particularly interesting, because they show extreme enrichments of heavy elements such as Ge, Sr, Y, and Zr, which are strikingly similar in both stars. In addition, both stars show light oscillations at periods incompatible with standard pulsation theory and form the class of V366 Aqr variables. We investigated whether the similar chemical compositions extend to more complete abundance patterns in both stars and validate the pulsations in Feige 46 using its recent TESS light curve. High-resolution optical and near-ultraviolet spectroscopy are combined with non-local thermodynamical-equilibrium model atmospheres and synthetic spectra calculated with TLUSTY and SYNSPEC to consistently determine detailed metal abundance patterns in both stars. Many previously unidentified lines were identified for the first time with transitions originating from Ga III, Ge III-IV, Se III, Kr III, Sr II-III, Y III, Zr III-IV, and Sn IV, most of which have not yet been observed in any star. The abundance patterns of 19 metals in both stars are almost identical, light metals being only slightly more abundant in Feige 46, while Zr, Sn, and Pb are slightly less enhanced compared to LS IV–14°116. Both abundance patterns are distinctively different from those of normal He-poor hot subdwarfs of a similar temperature. The extreme enrichment in heavy metals of more than 4 dex compared to the Sun is likely the result of strong atmospheric diffusion processes that operate similarly in both stars while their similar patterns of C, N, O, and Ne abundances might provide clues to their as yet unclear evolutionary history. Finally, we find that the periods of the pulsation modes in Feige 46 are stable to better than Ṗ ≲ 10−8 s s−1. This is not compatible with Ṗ predicted for pulsations driven by the ɛ-mechanism and excited by helium-shell flashes in a star that is evolving, for example, onto the extended horizontal branch.

Period–luminosity–metallicity relation of classical Cepheids

Context. Classical Cepheids (DCEPs) are the most important primary indicators for the extragalactic distance scale. Establishing the dependence on metallicity of their period–luminosity and period–Wesenheit (PL and PW) relations has deep consequences for the estimate of the Hubble constant (H0). Aims. We investigate the dependence on metal abundance ([Fe/H]) of the PL and PW relations for Galactic DCEPs. Methods. We combined proprietary and literature photometric and spectroscopic data, gathering a total sample of 413 Galactic DCEPs (372 fundamental mode, DCEP_F, and 41 first-overtone, DCEP_1O) and constructed new metallicity-dependent PL and PW relations in the near-infrared adopting the astrometry-based luminosity. Results. We find indications that the slopes of the PL(KS) and PW(J, KS) relations for Galactic DCEPs might depend on metallicity on the basis of the comparison with the Large Magellanic Cloud relationships. Therefore we used a generalized form of the PL and PW relations to simultaneously take the metallicity dependence of the slope and intercept of these relations into account. Conclusions. We calculated PL and PW relations that for the first time explicitly include a metallicity dependence of the slope and intercept terms. The quality of the available data is insufficient, however, and we cannot yet present conclusive results, but they are relevant from a methodological point of view. The new relations are linked to the geometric measurement of the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud and allowed us to estimate a Gaia DR2 parallax zero-point offset Δϖ = 0.0615 ± 0.004 mas from the dataset of DCEPs used in this work.

A high coverage view of the thermodynamics and metal abundance in the outskirts of the nearby galaxy cluster Abell 2199

ABSTRACT We present a joint Suzaku and XMM–Newton analysis of the outskirts of the nearby galaxy cluster Abell 2199, the only nearby galaxy cluster to be observed with near complete azimuthal coverage with Suzaku. Using the XMM–Newton observations to correct for the effects of gas clumping, we find that the azimuthally averaged entropy profile in the outskirts follows a power law with a slope of 1.20 ± 0.23, statistically consistent with a slope of 1.1 predicted by non-radiative simulations for purely gravitational hierarchical structure formation. However, when divided into 10 sectors, the entropy shows significant azimuthal variation, with some sectors lying below the baseline level. The azimuthally averaged gas mass fraction is found to agree with the cosmic mean baryon fraction. The metal abundance in the outskirts is found to be consistent with being uniform in all directions and it has an average value of $0.29_{-0.03}^{+0.03}\, \mathrm{ Z}_{\odot }$, consistent with the gas accreting on to clusters being pre-enriched with metals.

Investigation of contact binaries in the field of NGC 6811

Contact binary systems are very important for studying physical processes such as strong interactions between stars, mass transfer, and stellar merger. Further, the members of an open cluster have the same age, metal abundance, and interstellar extinction conditions. Therefore, we can conduct a comparative study on the different binary systems of the same open cluster. NGC 6811 is an observed intermediate-aged, slightly reddened open cluster in the Kepler field of view; we conducted a corresponding study on the contact binary systems in this cluster. We analyzed six suspected targets and found a total of five EW-type binary systems within a field of 40′ radius of the NGC 6811 cluster center. These targets were analyzed base on the Kepler data, and the corresponding system parameters were obtained by using the latest version of the Wilson–Devinney code. Further, we also used Gaia DR2 data and the cluster distance data to estimate the absolute parameters of these targets to determine whether they are members of the cluster. Finally, we determined that two targets (KIC 9470175 and KIC 9533706) are most likely cluster members; KIC 9957411 and KIC 9776718 are definitely not members of the cluster, just background stars.