A Multiband Photometric Study of RR Lyrae Stars in M53 (NGC 5024)

Abstract

We present a multiband (UBVRI) time-series photometric study of RR Lyrae (RRL) stars in the globular cluster Messier 53 (NGC 5024) to refine their pulsation properties and determine a precise cluster distance. The archival photometric data includes images taken over 22 years and 3 months using different optical telescopes, providing an excellent time baseline to investigate light curves of variable stars. Using Lomb-Scargle periodogram, we derived accurate periods for 29 fundamental-mode (RRab) and 35 first-overtone (RRc) RRLs. Template-fitting to phase-folded light curves provided robust mean magnitudes and amplitudes. The refined periods confirm M53 as an Oosterhoff II cluster, with a mean period of 0.649 days for RRab and 0.346 days for RRc, and a high RRc fraction (54.7\%). Most RRLs align with the horizontal branch in the color-magnitude diagram, while a few outliers result from blending effects. Period-amplitude diagrams show RRab stars following the Oosterhoff II locus. We derived I-band period-luminosity and multi-band period-Wesenheit relations, comparing them with theoretical predictions. A weighted mean distance modulus of 16.242 $\pm$ 0.05 mag yields a cluster distance of 17.717 $\pm$ 0.408 kpc, in agreement with recent estimates based on parallaxes from Gaia data.

Accepted for publication in New Astronomy

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