Large Magellanic Cloud Near-Infrared Synoptic Survey - III. A statistical study of non-linearity in the Leavitt Laws

We present a detailed statistical analysis of possible non-linearities in the period-luminosity (PL), period-Wesenheit (PW) and period-colour (PC) relations for Cepheid variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) at optical (VI) and near-infrared (JHK_s) wavelengths. We test for the presence of possible non-linearities and determine their statistical significance by applying a variety of robust statistical tests (F-test, random-walk, testimator and the Davies test) to optical data from third phase of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment and near-infrared data from Large Magellanic Cloud Near-Infrared Synoptic Survey. For fundamental-mode Cepheids, we find that the optical PL, PW and PC relations are non-linear at 10 d. The near-infrared PL and the W^H_{V,I} relations are non-linear around 18 d; this break is attributed to a distinct variation in mean Fourier amplitude parameters near this period for longer wavelengths as compared to optical bands. The near-infrared PW relations are also non-linear except for the W_{H,K_s} relation. For first-overtone mode Cepheids, a significant change in the slope of PL, PW and PC relations is found around 2.5 d only at optical wavelengths. We determine a global slope of -3.212 ± 0.013 for the W^H_{V,I} relation by combining our LMC data with observations of Cepheids in Supernovae host galaxies. We find this slope to be consistent with the corresponding LMC relation at short periods, and significantly different to the long-period value. We do not find any significant difference in the slope of the global-fit solution using a linear or non-linear LMC PL relation as calibrator, but the linear version provides a two times better constraint on the slope and metallicity coefficient.