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arXiv · 2605.13811

Photometric metallicity of Galactic RR Lyrae stars in the Gaia DR3 era

Mahiguhappriya Prakash·Susmita Das·Harinder P. Singh·Nitesh Kumar
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Abstract

We present a new, calibrated $G$-band relationship between pulsation period $P$, Fourier parameter $\phi_{31}$, and metallicity [Fe/H] for galactic RR Lyrae stars from the Gaia survey. A set of 72 fundamental mode RR Lyrae stars were identified for deriving the relation in the $G$-band, after visual examination of their light curves. Unlike recent large-scale calibrations, our relation prioritizes calibration purity by anchoring exclusively to a homogeneously analyzed sample of high-resolution spectroscopic metallicities from the literature. Our best fit relation is $\text{[Fe/H]} = (-6.93 \pm 0.58) - (6.04 \pm 0.37)P + (1.65 \pm 0.11)\phi_{31}$. We compare the [Fe/H] predicted by our relation for the stars in our calibration sample with that obtained from previously established relations in the $G$-band using different approaches. Our calibrated $G$-band $P$-$\phi_{31}$-[Fe/H] relationship demonstrates high reliability when validated against spectroscopic data, achieving a negligible bias of $0.00$ dex and an empirical RMS scatter of 0.26 dex. Furthermore, by applying an Orthogonal Distance Regression (ODR) routine that fully propagates parameter covariance, we establish a mathematically strict empirical baseline whose theoretical uncertainties perfectly align with this observed dispersion. We find that the inclusion of the $R_{21}$ Fourier parameter offers no significant improvement in metallicity estimation. Comparisons with literature confirm that our linear relation aligns closely with other Gaia DR3-based studies, while offering improved precision over older DR2-based relations.

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Mahiguhappriya Prakash, Susmita Das, Harinder P. Singh, Nitesh Kumar. 2026-05-13. Photometric metallicity of Galactic RR Lyrae stars in the Gaia DR3 era. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.13811

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