The Araucaria Project. Distances to Nine Galaxies Based on a Statistical Analysis of their Carbon Stars (JAGB Method)

Abstract

Our work presents an independent calibration of the J-region Asymptotic Giant Branch (JAGB) method using Infrared Survey Facility (IRSF) photometric data and a custom luminosity function profile to determine JAGB mean magnitudes for nine galaxies. We determine a mean absolute magnitude of carbon stars of $M_{LMC}=-6.212\pm 0.010$ (stat.) $\pm 0.030$ (syst.) mag. We then use near-infrared photometry of a number of nearby galaxies, originally obtained by our group to determine their distances from Cepheids using the Leavitt law, in order to independently determine their distances with the JAGB method. We compare the JAGB distances obtained in this work with the Cepheid distances resulting from the same photometry and find very good agreement between the results from the two methods. The mean difference is 0.01 mag with an rms scatter of 0.06 mag after taking into account seven out of the eight analyzed galaxies that had their distances determined using Cepheids. The very accurate distance to the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) based on detached eclipsing binaries (Graczyk et al. 2020) is also in very good agreement with the distance obtained from carbon stars.

arXiv commentaccepted for ApJ

References in corpus (23)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• Measuring Reddening with SDSS Stellar Spectra and Recalibrating SFD
• Evolution of asymptotic giant branch stars II. Optical to far-infrared isochrones with improved TP-AGB models
• Color Transformations for the 2MASS Second Incremental Data Release
• A new generation of PARSEC-COLIBRI stellar isochrones including the TP-AGB phase
• An eclipsing binary distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud accurate to 2 per cent
• A distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud that is precise to one per cent
• Stellar Populations in the Large Magellanic Cloud from 2MASS
• A distance determination to the Small Magellanic Cloud with an accuracy of better than 2 percent based on late-type eclipsing binary stars
• The Araucaria Project. Near-Infrared Photometry of Cepheid Variables in the Sculptor Galaxy NGC 300
• Structure of the Large Magellanic Cloud from 2MASS
• Heavy-element yields and abundances of Asymptotic Giant Branch models with a Small Magellanic Cloud metallicity
• Carbon star populations in systems with different metallicities: statistics in Local Group galaxies
• The Araucaria Project: Distance to the Local Group Galaxy NGC 3109 from Near-Infrared Photometry of Cepheids
• The Local Group Galaxy NGC 6822 and its Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars
• The Araucaria Project: The effect of blending on the Cepheid distance to NGC 300 from Advanced Camera for Surveys images
• The Araucaria Project. The Distance to the Sculptor Galaxy NGC 247 from Near-Infrared Photometry of Cepheid Variables
• Carbon stars as standard candles: I. The luminosity function of carbon stars in the Magellanic Clouds
• The Araucaria Project. The Distance to the Local Group Galaxy WLM from Near-Infrared Photometry of Cepheid Variables
• The Araucaria Project. Near-Infrared Photometry of Cepheid Variables in the Sculptor Galaxy NGC 55
• Carbon stars as standard candles: II. The median J magnitude as a distance indicator
• The Araucaria Project. The Distance to the Sculptor Group Galaxy NGC 7793 from Near-Infrared Photometry of Cepheid Variables
• The Cepheid Period-Luminosity Relation (The Leavitt Law) at Mid-Infrared Wavelengths: III. Cepheids in NGC 6822

Cited by in corpus (15)

• The CosmoVerse White Paper: Addressing observational tensions in cosmology with systematics and fundamental physics
• Reconnaissance with JWST of the J-region Asymptotic Giant Branch in Distance Ladder Galaxies: From Irregular Luminosity Functions to Approximation of the Hubble Constant
• The Local Distance Network: a community consensus report on the measurement of the Hubble constant at 1% precision
• Luminosity distribution of Type II supernova progenitors
• Milky Way Zero-Point Calibration of the JAGB Method: Using Thermally Pulsing AGB Stars in Galactic Open Clusters
• Carbon stars as standard candles -- III. Un-binned maximum likelihood fitting and comparison with TRGB estimations
• Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distances with JWST. II. I-band Measurements in a Sample of Hosts of 10 SN Ia Match HST Cepheids
• Coordinated JWST Imaging of Three Distance Indicators in a SN Host Galaxy and an Estimate of the TRGB Color Dependence
• Investigating episodic mass loss in evolved massive stars: II. Physical properties of red supergiants at subsolar metallicity
• Investigating the metallicity dependence of the mass-loss rate relation of red supergiants
• A Distance Measurement to M33 Using Optical Photometry of Mira Variables
• Astrophysical Distance Scale IV. Preliminary Zero-Point Calibration of the JAGB Method in the HST/WFC3-IR Broad J-Band (F110W) Filter
• Discovering new B[e] supergiants and candidate Luminous Blue Variables in nearby galaxies
• Investigating episodic mass loss in evolved massive stars: III. Spectroscopy of dusty massive stars in three northern galaxies
• The Astrophysical Distance Scale: V. A 2% Distance to the Local Group Spiral M33 via the JAGB Method, Tip of the Red Giant Branch, and Leavitt Law