A Step toward the Calibration of the Red Giant Branch Tip as a Standard Candle

By M. Bellazzini, F. Ferraro, E. Pancino. 2001

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The absolute I magnitude of the tip of the red giant branch (M) is one of the most promising standard candles actually used in astrophysics as a fundamental pillar for the cosmological distance scale. With the aim of improving the observational basis of its calibration, we have obtained an accurate estimate of the M for the globular cluster ω Centauri, based (1) on the largest photometric database ever assembled for a globular cluster, by Pancino and colleagues, and (2) on a direct distance estimate for ω Cen, recently obtained by Thompson and colleagues from a detached eclipsing binary. The derived value M = -4.04 ± 0.12 provides, at present, the most accurate empirical zero point for the calibration of the M- relation at ~ -1.7. We also derive a new empirical M-[Fe/H] relation based on the large IR data set of red giants in Galactic globular clusters recently presented by Ferraro and colleagues. This database (extending up to [Fe/H] = -0.2) covers a more appropriate metallicity range for extragalactic applications than previous empirical calibrations (which were limited to [Fe/H] ≤ -0.7). The proposed relation is in excellent agreement with the newly determined zero point.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/89384a8b5c494bd333940e623303d0524ff42164

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Citations in the corpus

CONFIRMATION OF FAINT DWARF GALAXIES IN THE M81 GROUP (2013, unknown): “At the distance of the M81 group, the TRGB is found at I ∼ 23.8, assuming MI,TRGB = −4.04±0.12 for metal poor populations (Bellazzini et al. 2001).”
Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distances. I. Optimization of a Maximum Likelihood Algorithm (2006, methodology): “The TRGB method is comparable in accuracy with the Cepheid period-luminosity distance indicator (Sakai et al. 1996; Bellazzini et al. 2001).”
Calibration of the Tip of the Red Giant Branch (2003, background): “…the theoretical dependence of the I-band TRGB is nonlinear, as illustrated in Figure 3 of Mager et al. (2008) (which, in turn, was derived from Bellazzini et al. 2001; Bellazzini 2008); however, the color range specified above encompasses virtually all of the low-metallicity halo stars used…”
Axion and neutrino bounds improved with new calibrations of the tip of the red-giant branch using geometric distance determinations (2020, methodology): “04 mag by searching for the corresponding edge in the luminosity function [30].”
Distances to nearby galaxies in Sculptor (2003, methodology): “A new TRGB calibration, MI = −4. m04± 0.m12, was made by Bellazzini et al. (2001) based on photometry and on the distance estimate from a detached eclipsing binary in the Galactic globular cluster ω Centauri.”
HyperLEDA. III. The catalogue of extragalactic distances (2014, result): “Many authors point out that the TRGB method has a precision similar to that of the Cepheids (Sakai et al. 1996; Bellazzini et al. 2001).”
The Hubble Flow around the Centaurus A/M83 Galaxy Complex (2006, methodology): “A new TRGB calibration, MI ¼ 4:04 0:12 mag, was made by Bellazzini et al. (2001) based on photometry and a distance estimate from a detached eclipsing binary in the Galactic globular cluster !”
THE OBSERVED PROPERTIES OF DWARF GALAXIES IN AND AROUND THE LOCAL GROUP (2012, background): “The sample of galaxies discussed in this article consists of all known galaxies with distances determined from measurements of resolved stellar populations (usually Cepheids, RR Lyrae, tip of the red giant branch, TRGB, but also including horizontal branch level and main-sequence fitting; see Tamman”
The Hubble Constant: A Summary of the Hubble Space Telescope Program for the Luminosity Calibration of Type Ia Supernovae by Means of Cepheids (2006, background): “The brightness of the TRGB is based on globular clusters (Da Costa &Armandroff 1990; Lee et al. 1993; Bellazzini et al. 2001); its Imagnitude is, according to theoretical models (Cassisi & Salaris 1997; Sakai et al. 2004), only moderately dependent on metallicity.”
Distances and metallicities for 17 Local Group galaxies (2004, background): “In this paper, we now also take into account the slight variation that MTRGBI displays with metallicity (e.g. Bellazzini et al. 2001, 2004).”
Advanced Camera for Surveys Imaging of 25 Galaxies in Nearby Groups and in the Field (2005, methodology): “A new TRGB calibration, MI ¼ 4:04 0:12 mag, was made by Bellazzini et al. (2001) based on photometry and a distance estimate from a detached eclipsing binary in the Galactic globular cluster !”
Evolution of Stars and Stellar Populations (2005, background): “Empirically, the colour of bright RGB stars in globular clusters is related to their [Fe/H] according to d V − I /d[Fe/H]= 1 162[Fe/H] +2 472 ([9]).”
The very local Hubble flow (2002, methodology): “A new TRGB calibration MI = −4.04 ± 0.12 mag was determined by Bellazzini et al.(2001) based on photometry and a distance estimate from a detached eclipsing binary in the Galactic globular cluster ω Centauri.”
THE GHOSTS SURVEY. I. HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE ADVANCED CAMERA FOR SURVEYS DATA (2011, methodology): “The color of the RGB stars just below the well-defined TRGB can thus be used to estimate metallicity (e.g., Da Costa & Armandroff 1990; Bellazzini et al. 2001).”
The Victoria-Regina Stellar Models: Evolutionary Tracks and Isochrones for a Wide Range in Mass and Metallicity that Allow for Empirically Constrained Amounts of Convective Core Overshooting (2005, methodology): “A plot very similar to that provided in the latter study is given in Figure 13, except that a wider range in [Fe/H] is considered and the recent determination by Bellazzini et al. (2001) of the absolute Imagnitude of the RGB tip (MTRGBI ) of !”
Local galaxy flows within 5 Mpc (2002, methodology): “A new TRGB calibration, MI = −4. m04 ± 0.m12, was made by Bellazzini et al.(2001) based on photometry and on a distance estimate from a detached eclipsing binary in the Galactic globular cluster ω Centauri.”