Stellar variability in Gaia DR3. I. Three-band photometric dispersions for 145 million sources

Abstract

CONTEXT: The unparalleled characteristics of Gaia photometry make it an excellent choice to study stellar variability. AIMS: To measure the phot. dispersion in G+G_BP+G_RP of the 145 677 450 Gaia DR3 5-parameter sources with G <= 17 mag and G_BP-G_RP with -1.0 to 8.0 mag. To use that unbiased sample to analyze stellar variability in the Milky Way, LMC, and SMC. METHODS: We convert from magnitude uncertainties to the observed phot. dispersions, calculate the instrumental component as a function of apparent magnitude and color, and use it to transform the observed dispersions into the astrophysical ones. We give variability indices in the three bands for the whole sample. We use the subsample of Rimoldini et al. that includes light curves and variability types to calibrate our results and establish their limitations. RESULTS: We use information from the MW, LMC, and SMC CAMDs to discuss variability across the HRD. WDs and sdBs are more variable than MS or RC stars but their variability decreases for the former with age. The MS region in the Gaia CAMD has an s_G distribution peaks at low values (~1-2 mmag) and has a large tail dominated by EBs, RR Lyr stars, and YSOs. RC stars are characterized by little variability, with their s_G distribution peaking at 1 mmag or less. The stars in the PMS region are highly variable, with a power law distribution in s_G with slope 2.75 and a cutoff for values lower than 7 mmag. The luminous red stars region of the Gaia CAMD has the highest variability, with its extreme dominated by AGB stars and with a power law in s_G with a slope of ~2.2 that extends from there to a cutoff of 7 mmag. We show that our method can be used to search for LMC Cepheids. We analyze four stellar clusters with O stars and detect a strong difference in s_G between stars that are already in the MS and those that are still in the PMS. [ABRIDGED BUT NOT TOO FAR]

Submitted to A&A. Comments welcome. Second version improved with: [a] Appendix figures included. [b] Changed from 3 to 5 color bins to reduce residual instrumental effects. [c] Figure changes caused by [b]. [d] Minor content additions. [e] Some typos corrected

References in corpus (27)

• The Gaia mission
• Gaia Data Release 3: Summary of the content and survey properties
• New evolutionary models for pre-main sequence and main sequence low-mass stars down to the hydrogen-burning limit
• A distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud that is precise to one per cent
• Southern Massive Stars at High Angular Resolution: Observational Campaign and Companion Detection
• Gaia Data Release 3. Summary of the variability processing and analysis
• The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey XVI. The optical+NIR extinction laws in 30 Doradus and the photometric determination of the effective temperatures of OB stars
• Gaia Data Release 3. The first Gaia catalogue of eclipsing binary candidates
• Gaia Data Release 3: All-sky classification of 12.4 million variable sources into 25 classes
• Gaia DR3: Specific processing and validation of all-sky RR Lyrae and Cepheid stars -- The Cepheid sample
• The first all-sky view of the Milky Way stellar halo with Gaia+2MASS RR Lyrae
• Catalogue of new Herbig Ae/Be and classical Be stars. A machine learning approach to Gaia DR2
• Validation of the accuracy and precision of Gaia EDR3 parallaxes with globular clusters
• Gaia data release 1: Principles of the photometric calibration of the G band
• An estimation of the Gaia EDR3 parallax bias from stellar clusters and Magellanic Clouds data
• Gaia Data Release 3: Gaia scan-angle dependent signals and spurious periods
• The Clouds are breaking: tracing the Magellanic system with Gaia DR1 Mira variables
• The Villafranca catalog of Galactic OB groups. II. From Gaia DR2 to EDR3 and ten new systems with O stars
• Testing the predicted mass-loss bi-stability jump at radio wavelengths
• Kinematic analysis of the Large Magellanic Cloud using Gaia DR3
• Galactic extinction laws: I. A global NIR analysis with 2MASS photometry
• New Variable Hot Subdwarf Stars Identified from Anomalous Gaia Flux Errors, Observed by TESS, and Classified via Fourier Diagnostics
• Using the Gaia excess uncertainty as a proxy for stellar variability and age
• Application of a Neural Network classifier for the generation of clean Small Magellanic Cloud stellar samples
• Gaia-ESO Survey: massive stars in the Carina Nebula. A new census of OB stars
• The GALANTE photometric survey of the northern Galactic plane: Project description and pipeline
• Identifying Candidate Optical Variables Using Gaia Data Release 2

Cited by in corpus (11)

• The Alma catalogue of OB stars. III. A cross-match with Gaia DR3 and an extension based on new spectral classifications
• MINCE III. Detailed chemical analysis of the UVES sample
• An in-depth analysis of the differentially expanding star cluster Stock 18 (Villafranca O-036) using Gaia DR3 and ground-based data
• A bird's eye view of stellar evolution through populations of variable stars in Galactic open clusters
• Exploring membership and variability in NGC 7419: An open cluster rich in super giants and Be type stars
• A constant upper luminosity limit of cool supergiant stars down to the extremely low metallicity of I Zw 18
• MONOS: Multiplicity Of Northern O-type Spectroscopic systems. III. New orbits and Gaia TESS analysis for 10 SB2E systems
• MeerKAT discovery of 164 compact radio rings toward the Galactic Plane
• Automated Identification of the Tip of the Red Giant Branch in Globular Clusters with Gaia Data
• A magnetic field detection in the massive O-type bright giant 63 Oph
• The Bochum Survey of the Southern Galactic Disk: III. Complete Data Release