Concerning the slope of the Cepheid period-luminosity relation

Abstract

We discuss the impact of possible differences in the slope of the Cepheid period-luminosity (PL) relation on the determination of extragalactic distances in the context of recent studies that suggest changes in this slope. We show that the Wesenheit function W = V - R × (V - I), widely used for the determination of the Cepheid distances, is expected to be highly insensitive to changes in the slope of the underlying (monochromatic) PL relations. This occurs because the reddening trajectories in the color-magnitude plane are closely parallel to lines of constant period. As a result W-based PL relations have extremely low-residual dispersion, which is because differential (and the total line of sight) reddening is eliminated in the definition of W and the residual scatter due to a star's intrinsic color/position within the Cepheid is also largely insensitive to W. Basic equations are presented and graphically illustrated, showing the insensitivity of W to changes in the monochromatic PL relations. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.