On calibration of some distance scales in astrophysics

Abstract

We present a method for distance calibration without using standard fitting procedures. Instead we use random resampling to reconstruct the probability density function (PDF) of calibration data points in the fitting plane. The resulting PDF is then used to estimate distance-related properties. The method is applied to samples of radio surface brightness to diameter (Σ-D) data for the Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs) and planetary nebulae (PNe), and period-luminosity (PL) data for the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) fundamental mode classical Cepheids. We argue that resulting density maps can provide more accurate and more reliable calibrations than those obtained by standard linear fitting procedures. For the selected sample of the Galactic SNRs, the presented PDF method of distance calibration results in a smaller average distance fractional error of up to $\approx 16$ percentage points. Similarly, the fractional error is smaller for up to $\approx 8$ and $\approx 0.5$ percentage points, for the samples of Galactic PNe and LMC Cepheids, respectively. In addition, we provide a PDF-based calibration data for each of the samples.

arXiv comment11 pages, 3 figures, corrected for mistakenly considering working data as absolute instead of apparent magnitude, consequential changes in text and some statistically insignificant changes were made mainly in numbers from Table 1

References in corpus (18)

• Studies in Astronomical Time Series Analysis. VI. Bayesian Block Representations
• A New $\Sigma -D$ Relation and Its Application to the Galactic Supernova Remnant Distribution
• Planetary Nebulae: Observational Properties, Mimics, and Diagnostics
• The Magellanic Cloud Calibration of the Galactic Planetary Nebula Distance Scale
• The theory of synchrotron emission from supernova remnants
• The radio surface brightness to diameter relation for galactic supernova remnants: sample selection and robust analysis with various fitting offsets
• The Carnegie Hubble Program: The Leavitt Law at 3.6 μm and 4.5 μm in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Period-Luminosity Relations Derived from the OGLE-III Fundamental Mode Cepheids
• The Period-Luminosity Relation for the Large Magellanic Cloud Cepheids Derived from Spitzer Archival Data
• From Data to Probability Densities without Histograms
• The Cepheid Period-Luminosity Relation at Mid-Infrared Wavelengths: I. First-Epoch LMC Data
• The Detailed Forms of the LMC Cepheid PL and PLC Relations
• A Study on the Universality and Linearity of the Leavitt Law in the LMC and SMC Galaxies
• The orthogonal fitting procedure for determination of the empirical Σ - D relations for supernova remnants: application to starburst galaxy M82
• Period-Color and Amplitude-Color Relations in Classical Cepheid Variables - VI. New Challenges for Pulsation Models
• The Sigma - D relation for planetary nebulae
• X-Ray Emission from the Galactic Supernova Remnant G12.0-0.1
• The Sigma-D Relation for Planetary Nebulae: Preliminary Analysis

Cited by in corpus (7)

• The Hα surface brightness - radius relation: a robust statistical distance indicator for planetary nebulae
• Statistical Analysis of Supernova Remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Radio Evolution of Supernova Remnants Including Non-linear Particle Acceleration: Insights from Hydrodynamic Simulations
• Searching for an interstellar medium association for HESS J1534-571
• Interstellar medium structure and the slope of the radio $\Sigma -D$ relation of supernova remnants
• Murchison Widefield Array and XMM-Newton observations of the Galactic supernova remnant G5.9+3.1
• On the Determination of the Evolutionary Status of Supernova Remnants from Radio Observation Data