TOWARD A CENSUS

OF VARIABLE STARS IN
NORTHERN LOCAL GROUP DWARF IRREGULAR GALAXIES
J!" M. S"#$%&!
1
, C&!%' A. G(''&
2
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(1) M!. P&!"*/ I"'0#0%0 12) E.0)!03))3'0)#'*+3 P+4'#/, G!)*+#"$; (2) U"#'03)"5!)03 M2"*+3"
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Dwarf galaxies in the local group provide a
unique astrophysical laboratory. Especially, they
allow us to probe pulsating (and other) variable
stars in low-metallicity environments with abun-
dances below that of the SMC.
Our observing program, described in detail by
another contribution (C. Gssl), yields a large
number of intrinsically bright variables which can
serve as probes of the stellar population and star
formation history of these galaxies. Most promi-
nent are pulsation variables like Miras and delta
Cep stars, but we also nd other type of variable
stars, e.g. RV Tauri stars, irregular red variables
etc.
We present a rst census for the three galaxies
DDO 216, Leo A and GR8.
T+3 G!&!.4 S!6-&3:
We selected a sample of six local group irregular
dwarf galaxies which are visible with the 0.8 m
telescope of our institute at Mt. Wendelstein.
Three color composite of the Leo A dwarf galaxy, C. A. Gssl.
The observations so far were carried out in R and
B-Band sparsely sampling a three year period
starting with test observation in 1999. This part
of the data set consists of approximately 80 indi-
vidual epochs and is sensitive for long period
variable stars with periods up to 500 days. Ad-
ditional observation in R, B and I-Band were ob-
tained during 3 observing campaigns at the 1.23 m
telescope on Calar Alto densely sampling three
two week long periods. These observations pro-
vide a ground for a search for variable stars with
shorter periods ranging from 1.5 days up to
10 days. The depth of an individual epoch is
roughly around 22 - 23 mag in the R-Band.
I6!$3 R37%*0#,":
The acquired data was bias subtracted, at-
elded and cosmic rejected, at the same time
propagating the error of each pixel. After that the
images from one night were astrometrically
aligned to a common reference frame and com-
bined with individual weights proportional to the
S/N. For each epoch, consisting of the stacked
images from a night, a di9erence image against a
common deep reference frame was created using
an implementation (Gssl & Ri9eser, 2002) of
the Alard algorithm (Alard & Lupton, 1998), still
propagating the individual pixel error. These dif-
ference images were, in a nal step, convolved
with a stellar PSF. The short period variables
were detected using an implementation of the
Lomb algorithm (Scargle, 1982). For the LPVs
the Laer-Kinman (Laer & Kinman, 1965) sta-
tistic was applied.
C,6-&303"3'' S#6%&!0#,"':
To obtain a measure, of the completeness of the
resulting catalogue of variable sources, we carried
out an extensive set of simulations, covering the
complete set of relevant parameters, magnitude,
period and amplitude.
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
18
19
20
21
22
23
24 0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
R [mag]
period [days]
Completeness simulation for variables with a cosine shaped light-
curve and an amplitude of 1 mag, using the Laer-Kinman statis-
tic. The break-in for periods of about one year, stems from the
visibility of only half the light-curve due to our half-year observing
window.
The tests were conducted using a sample of
nearly 900 articial sources. As shape of the light-
curve, both a cosine and a sawtooth were used, to
test both a ideal, and a worst case.
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
18
19
20
21
22
23
24 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
R [mag]
period [days]
Completeness simulation for variables with a cosine shaped light-
curve with an amplitude of one mag, using the Lomb algorithm.

The simulations show, with exception of the limi-
tation for one year periods, no notable deciency.
P)3&#6#"!)4 V!)#!8&3 C3"'%':
So far, we nished analyzing three galaxies from
our sample. Table 1 gives a short overview of the
amount of detected variables.
20.4
20.5
20.6
20.7
20.8
20.9
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
R

[
m
a
g
]
phase
WST
CA
Light-curve for a ! Cep variable in Leo A with a period of 6.49
days. The blue points are observations from Mt. Wendelstein,
the red points from Calar Alto.
! Cep LPVs
Leo A 14 16
DDO 216 10 47
GR 8 1 1
Preliminary census of the detected variables. The Cepheids were
detected using the Lomb algorithm, the LPVs using the Laer-
Kinman statistic. Sources detected by both algorithms, were
used for cross-checking.
18.45
18.5
18.55
18.6
18.65
18.7
18.75
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
R

[
m
a
g
]
phase
WST
CA
Light-curve for a LPV in Leo A with a period of 74.9 days.
O%0&,,/:
The next step will be the nal reduction and
evaluation of the remaining dwarf galaxies, and a
scientic analysis of possible SFHs of these, us-
ing the found LPVs and the completeness simu-
lations.
21
21.5
22
22.5
23
23.5
24
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
R

[
m
a
g
]
phase
WST
Light-curve for a LPV with 255 days period in the pegasus
dwarf galaxy (DDO 216).
R313)3"*3':
Alard & Lupton 1998, ApJ, 503, 325
Gssl & Ri9eser 2002, A&A, 381, 1005
Laer & Kinman 1965, ApJS, 11, 216
Scargle 1982, ApJ, 263, 835
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