Absolute Magnitudes and Kinematic Properties of RR Lyrae Stars
Abstract
A maximum-likelihood statistical analysis of several subgroups of the field RR Lyrae stars was performed to determine the relative solar motion, velocity ellipsoid parameters, and mean absolute visual magnitude for each group. The full sample of 159 stars was taken from a recent Chinese proper-motion survey, and new mean radial velocities were used for 46 of the stars. A geometric minimization technique known as simplex optimization was used to apply a rigorous maximum-likelihood model to the data. The best estimate for the mean absolute visual magnitude is 0.76 + or - 0.14 mag for the entire RR ab-type sample.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- March 1986
- DOI:
- 10.1086/164022
- Bibcode:
- 1986ApJ...302..626H
- Keywords:
-
- Blue Stars;
- Giant Stars;
- Stellar Magnitude;
- Stellar Motions;
- Variable Stars;
- Maximum Likelihood Estimates;
- Optimization;
- Radial Velocity;
- Radii;
- Astrophysics;
- STARS: LUMINOSITIES;
- STARS: RR LYRAE;
- STARS: STELLAR DYNAMICS