Recent Advances in Pulsating Stars

Dear Colleagues,

Variable stars are crucial objects in astrophysics, as their oscillation properties provide additional observables such as the period and the amplitude of the oscillation that are independent of uncertainties related to distance and extinction and make them relatively easy to detect even at large distances. Moreover, stringent relations can be derived connecting these pulsation observables with the intrinsic stellar properties. Among the most studied class of variable stars, Classical Cepheids are excellent distance indicators thanks to their characteristic period–luminosity and period–luminosity–color relations, and are currently at the basis of an absolute calibration of the extragalactic distance scale.

On the other hand, RR Lyrae, the old, low-mass counterparts of Classical Cepheids, thanks to their near- and mid-infrared period–luminosity relations, offer an alternative route to infer the distances of Local Group galaxies and calibrate other secondary distance indicators.

Apart from these two important classes of pulsating variable stars, several other types of variable stars can be used as distance indicators and stellar population tracers, namely long period variables, Delta Scuti, etc.

This field of research has greatly benefited from the results of a series of large ground-based surveys devoted to the detection of transient objects (ASAS-SN, ATLAS, OGLE, etc.) and above all by the outcomes of the Gaia astrometric mission, which provided for the first time accurate parallaxes, and in turn, distances, for millions of variable stars.

Apart from the mentioned radially pulsating stars, several additional classes of variable stars are known to show multi-periodic, non-radial stellar pulsation, exploited in recent years by important space missions such as COROT, KEPLER, and TESS. The study of the oscillation pattern of these variables, especially those showing solar-like oscillations, allows us to unveil their stellar structure through asteroseismological techniques.

In this volume we present the most recent observational and theoretical results for different classes of variable stars in the context of present and future ground-based and space missions.

Dr. Marcella Marconi
Dr. Vincenzo Ripepi
Guest Editors

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