SX Phoenicis Stars in the Globular Cluster NGC 5466

Abstract

Through time-series CCD photometry of the globular cluster NGC 5466, we have detected nine SX Phoenicis stars including three new ones. All the SX Phoenicis stars are located in the blue straggler region in the color-magnitude diagram of NGC 5466. Five of them show clearly double-radial mode features, the periods of which are well consistent with the theoretical ratio of the first overtone mode to the fundamental mode (P$_{1H}$/P$_F$). Normally, it has not been easy to secure a P-L relation of the SX Phoenicis stars, because determination of the pulsational mode of the SX Phoenicis stars has been difficult. The existence of five SX Phoenicis stars in NGC5466 with double-radial modes allows us to derive reliably a P-L relation for the fundamental mode of the SX Phoenicis stars. Using seven SX Phoenicis stars including five stars with double-radial modes, we derive a P-L relation for the fundamental mode in NGC 5466, $ = - 3.25 (\pm 0.46) Log P + 14.70 (\pm 0.06), (σ= \pm0.04) $, corresponding to $ = - 3.25 (\pm0.46)Log P - 1.30 (\pm0.06) $ for an adopted distance modulus of $(m-M)_0=16.00$ and zero reddening.