The dynamical mass of a classical Cepheid variable star in an eclipsing binary system

G. Pietrzyński (), I. B. Thompson, W. Gieren, D. Graczyk, G. Bono, A. Udalski, I. Soszyński, D. Minniti and B. Pilecki
Additional contact information
G. Pietrzyński: Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepciòn, Chile
I. B. Thompson: Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara Street
W. Gieren: Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepciòn, Chile
D. Graczyk: Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepciòn, Chile
G. Bono: via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
A. Udalski: Obserwatorium Astronomiczne Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Aleje Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa, Poland
I. Soszyński: Obserwatorium Astronomiczne Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Aleje Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa, Poland
D. Minniti: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 306, Santiago 22, Chile
B. Pilecki: Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepciòn, Chile

Nature, 2010, vol. 468, issue 7323, 542-544

Abstract: Cepheid variable mass Cepheid variable stars have been important in the development of modern astrophysics through their use in establishing cosmic distances, but despite extensive research they retain some of their mysteries. One is the mass discrepancy problem, the fact that the masses of classical Cepheid supergiants calculated from pulsation theory (it is pulsation that causes their luminosity to vary) are smaller than the masses calculated from stellar evolution models. The ideal system in which to make an accurate mass determination would be a well-detached double-lined eclipsing binary in which one of the components was a classical Cepheid. Pietrzynski et al. report the discovery of just such a system in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The resultant mass determination, to a precision of one per cent, is in agreement with the mass as predicted by pulsation theory.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09598

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