Analysis of RR Lyrae Stars in the Northern Sky Variability Survey

We use data from the Northern Sky Variability Survey (NSVS), obtained from the first-generation Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment (ROTSE-I), to identify and study RR Lyrae variable stars in the solar neighborhood. We initially identified 1197 RRab (RR0) candidate stars brighter than the ROTSE median magnitude V=14. Periods, amplitudes, and mean V magnitudes are determined for a subset of 1188 RRab stars with well-defined light curves. Metallicities are determined for 589 stars by the Fourier parameter method and by the relationship between period, amplitude, and [Fe/H]. We comment on the difficulties of clearly classifying RRc (RR1) variables in the NSVS data set. Distances to the RRab stars are calculated using an adopted luminosity-metallicity relation with corrections for interstellar extinction. The 589 RRab stars in our final sample are used to study the properties of the RRab population within 5 kpc of the Sun. The Bailey diagram of period versus amplitude shows that the largest component of this sample belongs to Oosterhoff type I. Metal-rich ([Fe/H]>-1) RRab stars appear to be associated with the Galactic disk. Our metal-rich RRab sample may include a thin-disk, as well as a thick-disk population, although the uncertainties are too large to establish this. There is some evidence among the metal-rich RRab stars for a decline in scale height with increasing [Fe/H], as was found by Layden. The distribution of RRab stars with -1<[Fe/H]<-1.25 indicates that within this metallicity range the RRab stars are a mixture of stars belonging to halo and disk populations.