Cepheid investigations in the era of space photometric missions

Abstract

Cepheid stars are crucial objects for a variety of topics that range from stellar pulsation and the evolution of intermediate-mass stars to the understanding the structure of the Galaxy and the Universe through the distance measurements they provide. The developments in hydrodynamical calculations, the release of large ground-based surveys, and the advent of continuous, space-based photometry revealed many puzzling phenomena about these stars in the last few years. In this paper I collected some important and new results in the topics of distance measurements and binarity investigations. I also summarize the most recent discoveries in their light variations, such as period doubling, modulation, low-amplitude additional modes, period jitter and the signs of granulation, and discuss the new opportunities that current and future space missions will offer for us.

8 pages, proceedings of the 2nd BRITE-Constellation Science Conference (to appear in the Polish Astronomical Society Proceedings)