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arXiv · 2608.24481

Fourier Morphology Diagnostics of Delta Cephei MESA-RSP Light Curves

Zuhoor Elahi·Christopher Sirola·Wafa Gull
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Abstract

Fourier morphology provides a compact test of whether a nonlinear Cepheid model reproduces the observed harmonic content and asymmetric light-curve shape, not only the pulsation period. We apply Fourier and time-domain morphology diagnostics to observed and synthetic Delta Cephei light curves. The observed Johnson V-band light curve is represented by a Fourier template and compared with MIST bolometric-correction V-band light curves generated from the calibrated MESA-RSP model sequence. This study is framed as a target-specific morphology assessment rather than as a new Fourier-decomposition method. The observed template has Delta V = 0.8390 mag, R21 = 0.3401, R31 = 0.1943, rise fraction = 0.2775, and asymmetry index = 0.4450. The final accepted model, with RSP_alfam = 0.400 and RSP_alfat = 0.095, gives Delta V_syn = 0.0367 mag, R21 = 0.0185, R31 = 0.0028, rise fraction = 0.4860, and asymmetry index = 0.0280. The accepted calibration sequence therefore improves the synthetic amplitude only modestly and leaves the synthetic curve much too sinusoidal. The result shows that the accepted sequence is period-calibrated and morphology-tested, but it is not yet an observed-amplitude solution for Delta Cephei.

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Zuhoor Elahi, Christopher Sirola, Wafa Gull. 2026-07-22. Fourier Morphology Diagnostics of Delta Cephei MESA-RSP Light Curves. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.24481

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