An analytical derivation is presented for computing mass-loss rates of Cepheids by using the method of Castor, Abbott, & Klein (1975) modified to include a term for momentum input from pulsation and shocks generated in the atmosphere. Using this derivation, mass-loss rates of Cepheids are determined as a function of stellar parameters. When applied to a set of known Cepheids, the calculated mass-loss rates range from 10^{-10} to 10^{-7}M_{Sun}/yr, larger than if the winds were driven by radiation alone. Infrared excesses based on the predicted mass-loss rates are compared to observations from optical interferometry and IRAS, and predictions are made for Spitzer observations. The mass-loss rates are consistent with the observations, within the uncertainties of each. The rate of period change of Cepheids is discussed and shown to relate to mass loss, albeit the dependence is very weak. There is also a correlation between the large mass-loss rates and the Cepheids with slowest absolute rate of period change due to evolution through the instability strip. The enhanced mass loss helps illuminate the issue of infrared excess and the mass discrepancy found in Cepheids.
We have performed systematic frequency analysis of the LMC Cepheids observed by OGLE project. Several new types of pulsation behaviour are identified, including triple-mode and amplitude-modulated double-mode pulsations. In ~10% of the first overtone Cepheids we find low amplitude secondary periodicities corresponding to nonradial modes. This is the first evidence for excitation of nonradial oscillations in Classical Cepheid variables.
I investigate the discrepancy between the evolution and pulsation masses for Cepheid variables. A number of recent works have proposed that non-canonical mass-loss can account for the mass discrepancy. This mass-loss would be such that a 5Mo star loses approximately 20% of its mass by arriving at the Cepheid instability strip; a 14Mo star, none. Such findings would pose a serious challenge to our understanding of mass-loss. I revisit these results in light of the Padova stellar evolutionary models and find evolutionary masses are ($17\pm5$)% greater than pulsation masses for Cepheids between 5…
Within the current uncertainties in the treatment of the coupling between pulsation and convection, limiting amplitude, nonlinear, convective models appear the only viable approach for providing theoretical predictions about the intrinsic properties of radial pulsators. In this paper we present the results of a comprehensive set of Cepheid models computed within such theoretical framework for selected assumptions on their original chemical composition.
We report the discovery of 20 1H/2H and 7 F/1H beat Cepheids in the SMC by the MACHO Project. We utilize the 20 1H/2H stars to determine lightcurve shape for the SMC second-overtone (2H) mode of Cepheid pulsation. We predict, similar to the findings of Alcock et al. (1997, ApJ, submitted), that 2H Cepheids will have nearly or purely sinusoidal light variations; that the P-L relation for 2H Cepheids will not be distinguishable from the P-L relation for 1H Cepheids within photometric accuracy; and that 2H stars may be discernable from F and 1H stars using the amplitude-period diagram and Fourier…
MACHO Project photometry of 45 LMC FO/SO beat Cepheids which pulsate in the first and second overtone (FO and SOo, respectively) has been analysed to determine the lightcurve characteristics for the SO mode of Cepheid pulsation. We predict that singly-periodic SO Cepheids will have nearly sinusoidal lightcurves; that we will only be able to discern SO Cepheids from fundamental (F) and (FO) Cepheids for P <= 1.4 days; and that the SO distribution will overlap the short-period edge of the LMC FO Cepheid period-luminosity relation (when both are plotted as a function of photometric period). We al…
The pulsational properties of the Cepheid models along the evolutionary tracks from the Padova group (Girardi et al.), as calculated with our turbulent convective pulsation code, are in good agreement with the resonance constraints imposed by the observational OGLE-2 data of the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds. Our study suggests that the P_4/P_1=1/2 resonance for the overtone Cepheids occurs for periods clustering around 4.2 d, in disagreement with the suggestion of Antonello & Poretti based on the observations of light curves, but in agreement with Kienzle et al. and Feuchtinger et al. For…
A theoretical investigation of the pulsation behavior of so-named ``anomalous'' Cepheids is presented. The study is based on nonlinear convective pulsation models with $Z$=0.0001 and 0.0004, mass in the range 1.3-2.2 Mo and various luminosity levels. Based on these computations, we derive period, bolometric light curves and the edges of the instability strip, showing that a variation of the metal abundance from Z=0.0001 to 0.0004 has quite small effects on these quantities. Then, using bolometric corrections and color-temperature transformations, we are able to provide the predicted relations …
We investigate a selected sample of Galactic classical Cepheids with available distance and reddening estimates in the framework of the theoretical scenario provided by pulsation models, computed with metal abundance Z=0.02, helium content in the range of Y=0.25 to 0.31, and various choices of the stellar mass and luminosity. After transforming the bolometric light curve of the fundamental models into BVRIJK magnitudes, we derived analytical relations connecting the pulsation period with the stellar mass, the mean (intensity-averaged) absolute magnitude, and the color of the pulsators. These r…
We present a differential study of 500 Magellanic Cepheids with 3 million measurements obtained as a by-product of the EROS microlensing survey. The data-set is unbiased and provides an excellent basis for a differential analysis between LMC and SMC. We investigate the pulsational properties of the Cepheids as a function of metallicity and the constraints they give to stellar pulsation, stellar evolution theory and opacities. Moreover, our empirical analysis shows a small metallicity effect on the period-luminosity relation which has a significant implication to recent distance estimates based…
It has been observed that Cepheids in the Magellanic Clouds have lower masses for the same luminosity than those in the Milky Way. The model, from Neilson & Lester (2008), of pulsation-driven mass loss for Cepheids is applied to theoretical models of Cepheids with metallicity consistent with the Milky Way and Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. The mass-loss model is analyzed using the metallicity correction of the Period-Luminosity relation to compare the ratio of mass loss of Cepheids with lower metallicity to that of Cepheids with solar metallicity. It is determined that mass loss may be lar…
We present nonlinear theoretical results concerning the predicted pulsation behaviour of stellar models suitable for the sample of Cepheids belonging to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) star cluster NGC 1866. The blue and red edges of the instability strip, transformed into the observative plane (V, B-V) by adopting current values for the distance modulus (DM=18.57 mag., Welch et al. 1991) and for the reddening (E(B-V)=0.06 mag., Arp 1967; Walker 1974; Walker 1987), are in agreement with the observed distribution of Cepheids in the quoted cluster. Moreover, the distribution of observational da…
The longstanding problem of modeling double-mode behaviour of classical pulsators was solved with the incorporation of turbulent convection into pulsation hydrocodes. However, the reasons for the computed double-mode behaviour were never clearly identified. In our recent papers (Smolec & Moskalik 2008a,b) we showed that the double-mode behaviour results from the neglect of negative buoyancy effects in some of the hydrocodes. If these effects are taken into account, no stable non-resonant double-mode behaviour can be found. In these proceedings we focus our attention on the role of negative buo…
We have selected a sample of Galactic Cepheids for which accurate estimates of radii, distances, and photometric parameters are available. The comparison between their pulsation masses, based on new Period-Mass-Radius (PMR) relations, and their evolutionary masses, based on both optical and NIR Color-Magnitude (CM) diagrams, suggests that pulsation masses are on average of the order of 10% smaller than the evolutionary masses. Current pulsation masses show, at fixed radius, a strongly reduced dispersion when compared with values published in literature.The increased precision in the pulsation …
In spite of the relevance of Classical Cepheids as primary distance indicators, a general consensus on the dependence of the Period-Luminosity (PL) relation on the Cepheid chemical composition has not been achieved yet. From the theoretical point of view, our previous investigations were able to reproduce some empirical tests for suitable assumptions on the helium to metal relative enrichment, but those results relied on specific assumptions concerning the Mass-Luminosity relation and the efficiency of the convective transfer in the pulsating envelopes. In this paper, we investigate the effect…
We present new theoretical Period-Radius (PR) relations for first overtone Galactic Cepheids. Current predictions are based on several sequences of nonlinear, convective pulsation models at solar chemical composition (Y=0.28, Z=0.02) and stellar masses ranging from 3.0 to 5.5 Mo. The comparison between predicted and empirical radii of four short-period Galactic Cepheids suggests that QZ Nor and EV Sct are pulsating in the fundamental mode, whereas Polaris and SZ Tau pulsate in the first overtone. This finding supports the mode identifications that rely on the comparison between direct and Peri…
We have investigated line profiles in a large sample of Cepheid spectra, and found four stars that show unusual (for Cepheids) line profile structure (bumps or/and asymmetries). The profiles can be phase dependent but the behavior persists over many cycles. The asymmetries are unlikely to be due to the spectroscopic binarity of these stars or the specific velocity field in their atmospheres caused by shock waves. As a preliminary hypothesis, we suggest that the observed features on the line profiles in the spectra of X Sgr, V1334 Cyg, EV Sct and BG Cru can be caused by the non-radial oscillati…
We present new Period-Age (PA) and Period-Age-Color (PAC) relations for fundamental and first overtone classical Cepheids. Current predictions rely on homogeneous sets of evolutionary and pulsation models covering a broad range of stellar masses and chemical compositions. We found that PA and PAC relations present a mild dependence upon metal content. Moreover, the use of different PA and PAC relation for fundamental and first overtone Cepheids improves the accuracy of age estimates in the short-period (log P < 1) range (old Cepheids), because they present smaller intrinsic dispersions. At the…
We present the results of an extensive theoretical investigation on the pulsation behavior of Bump Cepheids. We constructed several sequences of full amplitude, nonlinear, convective models by adopting a chemical composition typical of Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) Cepheids (Y=0.25, Z=0.008) and stellar masses ranging from 6.55 to 7.45 solar masses. We find that theoretical light and velocity curves reproduce the HP, and indeed close to the blue edge the bump is located along the descending branch, toward longer periods it crosses at first the luminosity/velocity maximum and then it appears alo…
We report the discovery of eleven beat Cepheids in the Small Magellanic Cloud, using data obtained by the EROS microlensing survey. Four stars are beating in the fundamental and first overtone mode (F/1OT), seven are beating in the first and second overtone (1OT/2OT). The SMC F/1OT ratio is systematically higher than the LMC F/1OT, while the 1OT/2OT period ratio in the SMC Cepheids is the same as the LMC one.
In this paper we present an extended set of nonlinear convective pulsation models at varying the metallicity and DY/DZ ratio. The predicted instability strip and bolometric light curves are discussed by comparing the new models with our previous ones. In particular, the dependence on both metal and helium abundances is investigated. By transforming the bolometric light curves into the observational bands we are able to derive both Period-Color-Luminosity and Wesenheit relations for each selected chemical composition. Synthetic Period-Luminosity relations are obtained by populating the instabil…
The Galactic Cepheid period histogram has a strong dip between 8 and 10 days that has defied an explanation based on evolutionary and linear pulsation studies. We show here that this deficiency is caused by the instability of the nonlinear fundamental pulsation cycle in this period range. The strong metallicity dependence of this instability is consistent with the absence of a corresponding minimum in the Magellanic Cloud data. Our results also suggest that the Galactic Cepheids must have a large spread in metallicity.
XZ Ceti is the only known anomalous Cepheid in the Galactic field. Being the nearest and brightest such variable star, a detailed study of XZ Ceti may shed light on the behaviour of anomalous Cepheids whose representatives have been mostly detected in external galaxies. CCD photometric and radial velocity observations have been obtained. The actual period and amplitude of pulsation were determined by Fourier analysis. The long time scale behaviour of the pulsation period was studied by the method of the O-C diagram using the archival Harvard photographic plates and published photometric data. …
A short analysis is presented of the effects on the cepheid light curve shape, i.e. on the Fourier parameters usually adopted for its description, of the blending of the stellar image with other close stars. The conclusion is that, within reasonable error, the effects are in general small and the Fourier decomposition is confirmed to be a useful tool for pulsation mode discrimination. A large effect has been found on the phase differences in a narrow period range corresponding to the known resonance centers between pulsation modes.
Observations of the southern Cepheid l Car to yield the mean angular diameter and angular pulsation amplitude have been made with the Sydney University Stellar Interferometer (SUSI) at a wavelength of 696 nm. The resulting mean limb-darkened angular diameter is 2.990+-0.017 mas (i.e. +-0.6 per cent) with a maximum-to-minimum amplitude of 0.560+-0.018 mas corresponding to 18.7+-0.6 per cent in the mean stellar diameter. Careful attention has been paid to uncertainties, including those in measurements, in the adopted calibrator angular diameters, in the projected values of visibility squared at …
We utilize nonlinear pulsation models to reproduce the observed light and color curves for two samples of bump Cepheid variables, 19 from the Large Magellanic Cloud and 9 from the Small Magellanic Cloud. This analysis determines the fundamental parameters mass, luminosity, effective temperature, metallicity, distance and reddening for the sample of stars. The use of light curve shape alone to determine metallicity is a new modelling technique introduced here. The metallicity, distance and reddening distributions for the two samples are in agreement with those of similar stellar populations in …
We present the discovery and CCD observations of the first eclipsing binary with a Type II Cepheid component in our Galaxy. The pulsation and orbital periods are found to be 4.1523 and 51.38 days, respectively, i.e. this variable is a system with the shortest orbital period among known Cepheid binaries. Pulsations dominate the brightness variations. The eclipses are assumed to be partial. The EB-subtype eclipsing light curve permits to believe that the binary's components are non-spherical.
The theoretical period-luminosity relation for Cepheids was deduced from stellar evolution and pulsation computations. Questions concerning the metallicity dependence of the relation as well as the constancy of the pulsation `constant' Q in the instablility strip were addressed. We found no significant metallicity dependence of either the slope or of the zero-point of the period-luminosity relation. The Q-value, however, varies across the instability strip, in effective temperature as well as in luminosity; its metallicity dependence, on the other hand, is marginal.
The discovery of a large number of beat Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud in the MACHO survey, provides an opportunity to compare the characteristics of such Cepheids over a range of metallicities. We produced a large grid of linear nonadiabatic pulsation models using the OPAL opacity tables and with compositions corresponding to those of the Milky Way, and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Using the relationship between the period ratio and the main pulsation period, we are able to define a range of models which correspond to the observed beat Cepheids, and thereby constrain the phy…
We have computed stellar evolutionary models for stars in a mass range characteristic of Cepheid variables ($3<m/\Msol<12$) for different metallicities representative of the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds populations. The stellar evolution calculations are coupled to a linear non adiabatic stability analysis to get self-consistent mass-period-luminosity relations. The period - luminosity relation as a function of metallicity is analysed and compared to the recent EROS observations in the Magellanic Clouds. The models reproduce the observed width of the instability strips for the SMC and LMC.…
For many years modeling of double-mode pulsation of classical pulsators was a challenging problem. Inclusion of turbulent convection into pulsation hydrocodes finally led to stable double-mode models. However, it was never analysed, which factor of turbulent convection is crucial. We show that the double-mode behaviour displayed in the computed models results from incorrect assumptions adopted in some of the pulsation hydrocodes, namely from the neglect of buoyant forces in convectively stable layers. This leads to significant turbulent energies and consequently to strong eddy-viscous damping …
We constructed several sequences of classical Cepheid envelope models at solar chemical composition ($Y=0.28, Z=0.02$) to investigate the dependence of the pulsation properties predicted by linear and nonlinear hydrodynamical models on input physics. To study the dependence on the equation of state (EOS) we performed several numerical experiments by using the simplified analytical EOS originally developed by Stellingwerf and the recent analytical EOS developed by Irwin. Current findings suggest that the pulsation amplitudes as well as the topology of the instability strip marginally depend on …
We compute the phase lags between the radial velocity curves and the light curves $ΔΦ_1= ϕ^{V_r}_1 - ϕ^{mag}_1$ for classical Cepheid model sequences both in the linear and the nonlinear regimes. The nonlinear phase lags generally fall below the linear ones except for high period models where they lie above, and of course for low pulsation amplitudes where the two merge. The calculated phase lags show good agreement with the available observational data of normal amplitude Galactic Cepheids. The metallicity has but a moderate effect on the phase lag, while the mass-luminosity relation and the …
Period-colour (PC) and amplitude-colour (AC) relations at maximum, mean and minimum light are constructed from a large grid of full amplitude hydrodynamic models of Cepheids with a composition appropriate for the SMC (Small Magellanic Cloud). We compare these theoretical relations with those from observations. The theoretical relations are in general good agreement with their observational counterparts though there exist some discrepancy for short period (log [P] < 1) Cepheids. We outline a physical mechanism which can, in principle, be one factor to explain the observed PC/AC relations for th…
Our analysis of the Deep CFHT M33 variability survey database has uncovered 5 Beat Cepheids (BCs) that are pulsating in the fundamental and first overtone modes. With {\it only} the help of stellar pulsation theory and of mass--luminosity (M-L) relations, derived from evolutionary tracks, we can accurately determine the metallicities Z of these stars. The [O/H] metallicity gradient of -0.16 dex/kpc that is inferred from the M33 galacto-centric distances of these Cepheids and from their 'pulsation' metallicities is in excellent agreement with the standard spectroscopic metallicity gradients tha…
I present photometric and radial velocity data for Galactic Cepheids, most of them being in the southern hemisphere. There are 1250 Geneva 7-color photometric measurements for 62 Cepheids, the average uncertainty per measurement is better than 0.01 mag. A total of 832 velocity measurements have been obtained with the CORAVEL radial velocity spectrograph for 46 Cepheids. The average accuracy of the radial velocity data is 0.38 km/s. There are 33 stars with both photometry and radial velocity data. I discuss the possible binarity or period change that these new data reveal. I also present redden…
We perform a detailed analysis of Cepheids in NGC 4258, Magellanic Clouds and Milky Way in order to verify the reliability of the theoretical scenario based on a large set of nonlinear convective pulsation models. We derive Wesenheit functions from the synthetic BVI magnitudes of the pulsators and we show that the sign and the extent of the metallicity effect on the predicted Period-Wesenheit (P-W) relations change according to the adopted passbands. These P-W relations are applied to measured BVI magnitudes of NGC 4258, Magellanic and Galactic Cepheids available in the literature. We find tha…
An analysis of the observed characteristics of the Galactic Cepheid variables is carried out in the framework of their period-luminosity relation being used as a standard candle for distance measurement. The variation of the observed number density of Galactic Cepheids as function of their period and amplitude along with stellar pulsation characteristics is used to divide the population into two groups: one with low periods, probably multi-mode or higher mode oscillators, and another of high period variables which should be dominantly fundamental mode radial pulsators. Methods to obtain extinc…
It is well known that the mere location of a Beat Cepheid model in a Period Ratio \vs Period diagram (Petersen diagram) puts constraints on its metallicity Z. But these bounds are sensitive to the mixture of elements that are lumped into the parameter $Z$. In this short paper we update the previous results that were based on the Grevesse-Noels solar mixture to the recent, revised Asplund, Grevesse & Sauval (2005) (AGS) solar mixture. We also examine the effect of the envelope depth on the accuracy of the computed pulsation periods. We find that for low period Cepheids with high Z the customary…
The numerical hydrodynamic modelling of beat Cepheid behavior has been a longstanding quest in which purely radiative models have failed miserably. We find that beat pulsations occur naturally when turbulent convection is accounted for in our hydrodynamics codes. The development of a relaxation code and of a Floquet stability analysis greatly facilitates the search for and analysis of beat Cepheid models. The conditions for the occurrence of beat behavior can be understood easily and at a fundamental level with the help of amplitude equations. Here a discriminant D arises whose sign decides wh…
Theoretical Period-Age and Period-Age-Color relations for different chemical compositions have been recently derived using an updated homogeneous set of evolutionary and pulsational models. We apply these relations to Cepheids in the Magellanic Clouds to constrain the recent star formation history of these dwarf galaxies. Finally, we also compare the radial distribution of classical Cepheids with young clusters and star forming regions.
Near infrared (IR) studies of Cepheid variables in the LMC take advantage of the reduced light curve amplitude and metallicity dependence at these wavelengths. This work presents such photometry for two young clusters known to contain sizeable Cepheid populations: NGC 1866 and NGC 2031. Our goal is to determine light curves and period-luminosity (PL) relations in the near-IR, to assess the similarity between cluster and field pulsators, and to examine the predictive capability of current pulsation models. The light curves are obtained from multiwavelength broadband J,H,Ks photometry of Cepheid…
We present the results of a theoretical investigation aimed at testing whether full amplitude, nonlinear, convective models account for the I-band light curves of Bump Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We selected two objects from the OGLE sample that show a well-defined bump along the decreasing (short-period) and the rising (long-period) branch respectively. We find that current models do reproduce the luminosity variation over the entire pulsation cycle if the adopted stellar mass is roughly 15 % smaller than predicted by evolutionary models that neglect both mass loss and conve…
For about 100 years the amplitude of the 4-day pulsation in Polaris has decreased. We present new results showing a significant increase in the amplitude based on 4.5 years of continuous monitoring from the ground and with two satellite missions.
We point out that the absolute magnitude of the Galactic Cepheids, which have been used for local calibrations for Cepheid period-luminosity relation, shows an unexpectedly large metal abundance effect. This indicates that either Cepheids period luminosity relation has a large metallicity dependence, much larger than expected in stellar pulsation models, or the unreddened distances to clusters contain a large systematic error arising from the neglect of the metallicity effect. This effect may introduce an uncertainty of --0.4 to +0.1 mag into the distance to the LMC estimated using the Cepheid…
AU Pegasi is a pulsating star in a spectroscopic binary system with an orbital period of 53.26 days. Between 1960 and 1990 an extremely rapid period increase was observed in the value of the pulsation period, but in the last 15 years the observation show that the period set in 2.411 days. Fourier analysis of photometric data obtained during the ASAS project and those taken at the Piszkesteto Mountain Station of the Konkoly Observatory during 1994-2005 indicate that AU Pegasi is pulsating in two modes simultaneously, and the ratio of the frequencies of the two modes is 0.706, a value common for…
We present high precision and well sampled BVRIJK light curves and radial velocity curves for a sample of five Cepheids in the SMC. In addition we present radial velocity curves for three Cepheids in the LMC. The low metallicity (Fe/H ~ -0.7) SMC stars have been selected for use in a Baade-Wesselink type analysis to constrain the metallicity effect on the Cepheid Period-Luminosity relation. The stars have periods of around 15 days so they are similar to the Cepheids observed by the Extragalactic Distance Scale Key Project on the Hubble Space Telescope. We show that the stars are representative…
We present an analysis of the period distribution of $\sim 1800$ Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud, based on data obtained by the MACHO microlensing experiment and on a previous catalogue by Payne-Gaposchkin. Using stellar evolution and pulsation models, we construct theoretical period-frequency distributions that are compared to the observations. These models reveal that a significant burst of star formation has occurred recently in the LMC ($\sim 1.15\times 10^8$ years). We also show that during the last $\sim 10^8$ years, the main center of star formation has been propagating from SE t…
The VLTI is the ideal instrument for measuring the distances of nearby Cepheids with the Baade-Wesselink method, allowing an accurate recalibration of the Cepheid Period-Luminosity relation. The high accuracy required by such measurement, however, can only be reached taking into account the effects of limb darkening, and its dependence on the Cepheid pulsations. We present here our new method to compute phase- and wavelength-dependent limb darkening profiles, based on hydrodynamic simulation of Classical Cepheid atmospheres.
We present observations of the galactic cepheids eta Aql and zeta Gem. Our observations are able to resolve the diameter changes associated with pulsation. This allows us to determine the distance to the Cepheids independent of photometric observations. We determine a distance to eta Aql of 320 +/- 32 pc, and a distance to zeta Gem of 362 +/- 38 pc. These observations allow us to calibrate surface brightness relations for use in extra-galactic distance determination. They also provide a measurement of the mean diameter of these Cepheids, which is useful in constructing structural models of thi…
A one-dimensional turbulent convection model in the form of a time-dependent diffusion equation for the turbulent energy is incorporated into our numerical pulsation code. The effect of turbulent convection on the structural rearrangement of the static equilibrium star is taken into account, and the linear eigenvalues (periods and growth-rates) for the complete turbulent convective nonadiabatic pulsations of the equilibrium models are calculated. The linearized code allows us to perform efficiently a systematic survey of the stability of Cepheid models for a wide range of astrophysical paramet…
Unbiased angular diameter measurements are required for accurate distances to Cepheids using the interferometric Baade Wesselink method (IBWM). The precision of this technique is currently limited by interferometric measurements at the 1.5% level. At this level, the center-to-limb darkening (CLD) and the presence of circumstellar envelopes (CSE) seem to be the two main sources of bias. The observations we performed aim at improving our knowledge of the interferometric visibility profile of Cepheids. In particular, we assess the systematic presence of CSE around Cepheids in order determine accu…
Period-colour (PC) and amplitude-colour (AC) relations are studied for the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) Cepheids under the theoretical framework of the hydrogen ionization front (HIF) - photosphere interaction. LMC models are constructed with pulsation codes that include turbulent convection, and the properties of these models are studied at maximum, mean and minimum light. As with Galactic models, at maximum light the photosphere is located next to the HIF for the LMC models. However very different behavior is found at minimum light. The long period (P>10days) LMC models imply that the photos…
