Description
Cepheid variable stars are well-known optical and infrared targets, as their period-luminosity relation is an essential rung on the distance ladder, especially in the IR K-band. However, millimeter and sub-millimeter observations of these objects are rare. We present VLA and ALMA observations of Cepheids covering 20 and 260 GHz (down to the radio K-band). Three Cepheids show tentative emission from our VLA observations; while l Car is soundly detected in continuum by ALMA. The fluxes of these detections plus the serendipitous detection of a radio-recombination line in the ALMA data point to ionized material surrounding the star. Circumstellar material, and circumstellar extinction specifically, can have a huge effect on measured magnitudes (see Mira variables for an extreme example), and even small amounts of circumstellar material must be understood in Cepheids as their measured properties continue to inform distance calculations at higher and higher precision.
| Talk category | NOVA Network 2 |
|---|---|
| Preference for a talk or poster | Poster |
