[en] We present the first evidence that Oosterhoff type II globular clusters exist in the Andromeda galaxy (M31). On the basis of time-series photometry of the moderately metal-poor ([Fe/H] ∼–1.6 dex) M31 globular cluster G11, obtained with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on board the Hubble Space Telescope, we detected and derived periods for 14 RR Lyrae stars, of which five are found to lie inside the cluster tidal radius. They include three fundamental-mode (RRab) and two first-overtone (RRc) pulsators, with average periods (P_ab ) = 0.70 days, and (P_c ) = 0.40 days, respectively. These mean periods and the position of the cluster variable stars in the period-amplitude and period-metallicity diagrams all suggest that G11 is likely to be an Oosterhoff type II globular cluster. This appears to be in agreement with the general behavior of Milky Way globular clusters with similar metallicity and horizontal branch morphology.

[en] We present B, V time-series photometry of Andromeda XIX (And XIX), the most extended (half-light radius of 6.'2) of Andromeda's dwarf spheroidal companions, which we observed with the Large Binocular Cameras at the Large Binocular Telescope. We surveyed a 23' × 23' area centered on And XIX and present the deepest color-magnitude diagram (CMD) ever obtained for this galaxy, reaching, at V ∼ 26.3 mag, about one magnitude below the horizontal branch (HB). The CMD shows a prominent and slightly widened red giant branch, along with a predominantly red HB, which extends to the blue to significantly populate the classical instability strip. We have identified 39 pulsating variable stars, of which 31 are of RR Lyrae type and 8 are Anomalous Cepheids (ACs). Twelve of the RR Lyrae variables and three of the ACs are located within And XIX's half light radius. The average period of the fundamental mode RR Lyrae stars ((P _ab) = 0.62 days, σ = 0.03 days) and the period-amplitude diagram qualify And XIX as an Oosterhoff-Intermediate system. From the average luminosity of the RR Lyrae stars ((V(RR)) = 25.34 mag, σ = 0.10 mag), we determine a distance modulus of (m – M)₀ = 24.52 ± 0.23 mag in a scale where the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is 18.5 ± 0.1 mag. The ACs follow a well-defined Period-Wesenheit (PW) relation that appears to be in very good agreement with the PW relationship defined by the ACs in the LMC.

[en] We present a multi-wavelength compilation of new and previously published photometry for 55 Galactic field RR Lyrae variables. Individual studies, spanning a time baseline of up to 30 years, are self-consistently phased to produce light curves in 10 photometric bands covering the wavelength range from 0.4 to 4.5 microns. Data smoothing via the GLOESS technique is described and applied to generate high-fidelity light curves, from which mean magnitudes, amplitudes, rise times, and times of minimum and maximum light are derived. 60,000 observations were acquired using the new robotic Three-hundred MilliMeter Telescope (TMMT), which was first deployed at the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, CA, and is now permanently installed and operating at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. We provide a full description of the TMMT hardware, software, and data reduction pipeline. Archival photometry contributed approximately 31,000 observations. Photometric data are given in the standard Johnson UBV, Kron–Cousins $R_C{I}_C$, 2MASS JHK, and Spitzer [3.6] and [4.5] bandpasses.

[en] We present results from the first combined study of variable stars and star formation history (SFH) of the Milky Way 'ultra-faint' dwarf (UFD) galaxy Leo T, based on F606W and F814W multi-epoch archive observations obtained with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on board the Hubble Space Telescope. We have detected 14 variable stars in the galaxy. They include one fundamental-mode RR Lyrae star and 11 Anomalous Cepheids with periods shorter than 1 day, thus suggesting the occurrence of multiple star formation episodes in this UFD, of which one about 10 Gyr ago produced the RR Lyrae star. A new estimate of the distance to Leo T of 409⁺²⁹_–27 kpc (distance modulus of 23.06 ± 0.15 mag) was derived from the galaxy's RR Lyrae star. Our V, V – I color-magnitude diagram (CMD) of Leo T reaches V ∼ 29 mag and shows features typical of a galaxy in transition between dwarf irregular and dwarf spheroidal types. A quantitative analysis of the SFH, based on the comparison of the observed V, V – I CMD with the expected distribution of stars for different evolutionary scenarios, confirms that Leo T has a complex SFH dominated by two enhanced periods about 1.5 and 9 Gyr ago, respectively. The distribution of stars and gas shows that the galaxy has a fairly asymmetric structure.

[en] We present new WFC3/UVIS observations of UGC 4483, the closest example of a metal-poor blue compact dwarf galaxy, with a metallicity of Z ≃ 1/15 Z _⊙ and located at a distance of D ≃ 3.4 Mpc. The extremely high quality of our new data allows us to clearly resolve the multiple stellar evolutionary phases populating the color–magnitude diagram (CMD), to reach more than 4 mag deeper than the tip of the red giant branch, and to detect for the first time core He-burning stars with masses ≲2 M _⊙, populating the red clump and possibly the horizontal branch (HB) of the galaxy. By applying the synthetic CMD method to our observations, we determine an average star formation rate over the whole Hubble time of at least $(7.01\pm <!--\; ??\; -->0.44)\times <!--\; ??\; -->{10}^{-<!--\; ???\; -->4}$ $M_{\odot <!--\; ???\; -->}{yr}^{-<!--\; ???\; -->1}$, corresponding to a total astrated stellar mass of $(9.60\pm <!--\; ??\; -->0.61)\times <!--\; ??\; -->{10}^6$ M _⊙, 87% of which went into stars at epochs earlier than 1 Gyr ago. With our star formation history recovery method we find the best fit with a distance modulus of DM = 27.45 ± 0.10, slightly lower than previous estimates. Finally, we find strong evidence of an old (≳10 Gyr) stellar population in UGC 4483 thanks to the detection of an HB phase and the identification of six candidate RR Lyrae variable stars.

[en] We have used B, V time-series photometry collected with the Large Binocular Telescope to undertake the first study of variable stars in the Milky Way ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) satellites Pisces II and Pegasus III. In Pisces II we have identified an RRab star, one confirmed and a candidate SX Phoenicis star, and a variable with uncertain classification. In Pegasus III we confirmed the variability of two sources: an RRab star and a variable with uncertain classification, similar to the case found in Pisces II. Using the intensity-averaged apparent magnitude of the bona fide RRab star in each galaxy, we estimate distance moduli of (m − M)₀ = 21.22 ± 0.14 mag (d = 175 ± 11 kpc) and 21.21 ± 0.23 mag (d = 174 ± 18 kpc) for Pisces II and Pegasus III, respectively. Tests performed to disentangle the actual nature of variables with an uncertain classification led us to conclude that they most likely are bright, long-period, and very metal-poor RRab members of their respective hosts. This may indicate that Pisces II and Pegasus III contain a dominant old stellar population (t > 12 Gyr) with metallicity 〈[Fe/H]〉 − 1.8 dex along with, possibly, a minor, more metal-poor component, as supported by the V, B – V color–magnitude diagrams of the two UFDs and their spectroscopically confirmed members. The metallicity spread that we derived from our data sample is ≳0.4 dex in both systems. Lastly, we built isodensity contour maps that do not reveal any irregular shape, thus making the existence of a physical connection between these UFDs unlikely.

[en] We have performed the first study of the variable star population of Ursa Major I (UMa I), an ultra-faint dwarf satellite recently discovered around the Milky Way (MW) by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Combining time series observations in the B and V bands from four different telescopes, we have identified seven RR Lyrae stars in UMa I, of which five are fundamental-mode (RRab) and two are first-overtone pulsators (RRc). Our V, B – V color-magnitude diagram of UMa I reaches V ∼ 23 mag (at a signal-to-noise ratio of ∼6) and shows features typical of a single old stellar population. The mean pulsation period of the RRab stars (P_ab) = 0.628, σ = 0.071 days (or (P_ab) = 0.599, σ = 0.032 days, if V4, the longest period and brightest variable, is discarded) and the position on the period-amplitude diagram suggest an Oosterhoff-intermediate classification for the galaxy. The RR Lyrae stars trace the galaxy horizontal branch (HB) at an average apparent magnitude of (V(RR)) = 20.43 ± 0.02 mag (average on six stars and discarding V4), giving in turn a distance modulus for UMa I of (m – M)₀ = 19.94 ± 0.13 mag, distance d = 97.3^+6.0_-5.7 kpc, in the scale where the distance modulus of the Large Magellanic Cloud is 18.5 ± 0.1 mag. Isodensity contours of UMa I red giants and HB stars (including the RR Lyrae stars identified in this study) show that the galaxy has an S-shaped structure, which is likely caused by the tidal interaction with the MW. Photometric metallicities were derived for six of the UMa I RR Lyrae stars from the parameters of the Fourier decomposition of the V-band light curves, leading to an average metal abundance of [Fe/H] = –2.29 dex (σ = 0.06 dex, average on six stars) on the Carretta et al. metallicity scale.

[en] Photometry in B, V (down to V ∼ 26 mag) is presented for two 23' × 23' fields of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) that were observed with the blue channel camera of the Large Binocular Telescope during the Science Demonstration Time. Each field covers an area of about 5.1 × 5.1 kpc² at the distance of M31 (μ_M31 ∼ 24.4 mag), sampling, respectively, a northeast region close to the M31 giant stream (field S2) and an eastern portion of the halo in the direction of the galaxy minor axis (field H1). The stream field spans a region that includes Andromeda's disk and giant stream, and this is reflected in the complexity of the color-magnitude diagram of the field. One corner of the halo field also includes a portion of the giant stream. Even though these demonstration time data were obtained under non-optimal observing conditions, the B photometry, which was acquired in time-series mode, allowed us to identify 274 variable stars (among which 96 are bona fide and 31 are candidate RR Lyrae stars, 71 are Cepheids, and 16 are binary systems) by applying the image subtraction technique to the selected portions of the observed fields. Differential flux light curves were obtained for the vast majority of these variables. Our sample mainly includes pulsating stars that populate the instability strip from the Classical Cepheids down to the RR Lyrae stars, thus tracing the different stellar generations in these regions of M31 down to the horizontal branch of the oldest (t ∼ 10 Gyr) component.

[en] We determined the present-day mass functions (PDMFs) of the five intermediate-age star clusters Lindsay 1, Kron 3, NGC 339, NGC 416, and Lindsay 38 and the old star cluster NGC 121 in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) based on observations with the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys. The global PDMFs are well matched by Salpeter-like power laws from their main-sequence turnoffs to ∼0.6 M_sun with a power-law exponent α ranging from 1.51 ± 0.11 (Lindsay 1) to 2.29 ± 0.15 (NGC 339). We derive total stellar masses of ∼10⁵ M_sun, except for Lindsay 38, whose mass is of the order of ∼10⁴ M_sun. Differences between the PDMFs most likely reflect the varying stages of dynamical evolution of the clusters. These SMC clusters do not follow the α versus concentration parameter c correlation as found for Galactic globular clusters of similar mass. This might be an age effect or due to their location in a galaxy where bulge and disk crossings do not play a role. No correlation is found between α and the cluster core and tidal radii (r_c and r_t , respectively), the half-light radii r_h , age, central surface brightness, metallicity, and galactocentric radius r_gc. All six clusters mass-segregated to different degrees. The two clusters Lindsay 1 and Kron 3 barely show signs for mass segregation, but have low-mass star deficient global PDMFs and might be the remnants of star clusters whose outer parts were stripped. A trend exists between the degree of mass segregation and the ratio age/relaxation time t_r,h, which indicates the stage of dynamical evolution for a cluster. Our data thus suggest that the SMC clusters in the present sample had a range of initial densities and presumably different amounts of mass loss that led to different rates of dynamical evolution. The clusters' positions in the r_h,m/r_t versus r₀/r_h,m plane imply that all of the clusters are tidally filled. Our SMC clusters with projected distances larger than 3 kpc from the SMC center should have Jacobi radii significantly larger than their observed King tidal radii. The clusters also have higher mean densities than the estimated central density of the SMC. It is possible that these clusters formed in a denser overall environment of the younger SMC, or that the cluster structures were unusually strongly influenced by encounters with giant molecular clouds.

[en] A rich harvest of RR Lyrae stars has been identified for the first time in B514, a metal-poor ([Fe/H] ∼- 1.95 ± 0.10 dex) globular cluster (GC) of the Andromeda galaxy (M31), based on Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and Advanced Camera for Surveys time-series observations. We have detected and derived periods for 89 RR Lyrae stars (82 fundamental-mode, RRab, and 7 first-overtone, RRc, pulsators, respectively) among 161 candidate variables identified in the cluster. The average period of the RR Lyrae variables ((Pab) = 0.58 days and (Pc) = 0.35 days, for RRab and RRc pulsators, respectively) and the position in the period-amplitude diagram both suggest that B514 is likely an Oosterhoff type I cluster. This appears to be in disagreement with the general behavior of the metal-poor GCs in the Milky Way, which show instead Oosterhoff type II pulsation properties. The average apparent magnitude of the RR Lyrae stars sets the mean level of the cluster horizontal branch at (V(RR)) = 25.18 ± 0.02 (σ = 0.16 mag, on 81 stars). By adopting a reddening E(B - V) = 0.07 ± 0.02 mag, the above metallicity and M _V = 0.44 ± 0.05 mag for the RR Lyrae variables of this metallicity, we derive a distance modulus of μ₀ = 24.52 ± 0.08 mag, corresponding to a distance of about 800 ± 30 kpc, based on a value of M _V that sets μ₀(LMC)=18.52 mag.