Converging on the Cepheid Metallicity Dependence: Implications of Nonstandard Gaia Parallax Recalibration on Distance Measures

Authors

• Louise Breuval
• Gagandeep S. Anand
• Richard I. Anderson
• Rachael Beaton
• Anupam Bhardwaj
• Stefano Casertano
• Gisella Clementini
• Mauricio Cruz Reyes
• Giulia De Somma
• Lucas M. Macri, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-20-2025

Abstract

By comparing Cepheid brightnesses with geometric distance measures including Gaia EDR3 parallaxes, most recent analyses conclude metal-rich Cepheids are brighter, quantified as γ ∼ −0.2 mag dex−1 . While the value of γ has little impact on the determination of the Hubble constant in contemporary distance ladders (due to the similarity of metallicity across these ladders), γ plays a role in gauging the distances to metal-poor dwarf galaxies like the Magellanic Clouds and is of considerable interest in testing stellar models. Recently, B. F. Madore & W. L. Freedman (hereafter MF25) recalibrated Gaia EDR3 parallaxes by adding to them a magnitude offset to match certain historic Cepheid parallaxes, which otherwise differ by ∼1.6σ. A calibration that adjusts Gaia parallaxes by applying a magnitude offset (i.e., a multiplicative correction in parallax) differs significantly from the Gaia Team’s calibration, which is additive in parallax space—especially at distances much closer than 1 kpc or beyond 10 kpc, outside the ∼2–3 kpc range on which the MF25 calibration was based. The MF25 approach reduces γ to zero. If broadly applied, it places nearby cluster distances like the Pleiades too close compared to independent measurements, while leaving distant quasars with negative parallaxes. We conclude that the MF25 proposal for Gaia calibration and γ ∼ 0 produces farther-reaching consequences, many of which are strongly disfavored by the data.

Comments

© 2025. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

Recommended Citation

Breuval, Louise, Gagandeep S. Anand, Richard I. Anderson, Rachael Beaton, Anupam Bhardwaj, Stefano Casertano, Gisella Clementini et al. "Converging on the Cepheid Metallicity Dependence: Implications of Nonstandard Gaia Parallax Recalibration on Distance Measures." The Astrophysical Journal 994, no. 1 (2025): 111. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae0cb9

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Publication Title

The Astrophysical Journal

DOI

10.3847/1538-4357/ae0cb9