Classical Cepheids in the JWST and Roman era: A new theoretical framework and its metallicity dependence
- 1INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte
- 2European Southern Observatory
Abstract
Context. Classical Cepheids are fundamental distance indicators that anchor the cosmic distance ladder through their period-luminosity, period-luminosity-color, and period-Wesenheit relations while also providing valuable constraints on the properties of young stellar populations. Recent advances in space-based near-infrared observations have highlighted the need for theoretical calibrations of classical Cepheid observables in modern photometric systems optimized for precision distance-scale applications. Aims. This work provides a homogeneous theoretical framework for classical Cepheids in the JWST/NIRCam and Roman/WFI photometric systems and explores its implications for their use as standard candles in the near-infrared regime. Methods. We exploited an extensive grid of nonlinear convective pulsation models transformed into the JWST/NIRCam and Roman/WFI systems. The models span a broad range of masses, effective temperatures, periods, metallicities, and assumptions on the efficiency of superadiabatic convection and on the adopted mass-luminosity relation. From these models, we derived mean magnitudes, colors, pulsation amplitudes, amplitude ratios, and new theoretical period-luminosity-color, period-Wesenheit, and metal-dependent period-Wesenheit relations. Results. We compared the theoretical Wesenheit relations with recent JWST observations of classical Cepheids in six SN Ia host galaxies from the SH0ES collaboration. We found excellent agreement between theoretical predictions and observations, with the largest systematic effects arising from the adopted mass-luminosity relation. The distance moduli derived from the theoretical relations are fully consistent with the empirical JWST determinations when a mildly overluminous mass-luminosity relation is adopted instead of the canonical one. Conclusions. These results establish a self-consistent pulsation-based calibration for JWST and Roman observations and provide a theoretical framework for future precision studies of the local distance scale.
Related
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- Cepheid Metallicity in the Leavitt Law (C-MetaLL) survey: X First spectroscopic characterization of Galactic Type II Cepheids and calibration of the Period-Wesenheit-Metallicity relations
- Theoretical pulsation properties of RR Lyrae and Type II Cepheids in the JWST and Roman photometric systems
- VELOcities of CEpheids (VELOCE) III. Reconstructing radial velocity curves of classical Cepheids
- Interstellar extinction of classical Cepheids from neighboring stars. I. Methodology and application to 16 Galactic Cepheids
BibTeX
@article{giulia2026classical,
title = {{Classical Cepheids in the JWST and Roman era: A new theoretical framework and its metallicity dependence}},
author = {De Somma Giulia and Marconi Marcella and Ripepi Vincenzo and Molinaro Roberto and Musella Ilaria and Leccia Silvio and Sicignano Teresa and Trentin Erasmo and Deka Mami and Salmeri Laura},
journal = {Astronomy \& Astrophysics},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202662111},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202662111},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Classical Cepheids in the JWST and Roman era: A new theoretical framework and its metallicity dependence
AU - De Somma Giulia
AU - Marconi Marcella
AU - Ripepi Vincenzo
AU - Molinaro Roberto
AU - Musella Ilaria
AU - Leccia Silvio
AU - Sicignano Teresa
AU - Trentin Erasmo
AU - Deka Mami
AU - Salmeri Laura
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/27
JO - Astronomy & Astrophysics
DO - 10.1051/0004-6361/202662111
UR - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202662111
AB - Context. Classical Cepheids are fundamental distance indicators that anchor the cosmic distance ladder through their period-luminosity, period-luminosity-color, and period-Wesenheit relations while also providing valuable constraints on the properties of young stellar populations. Recent advances in space-based near-infrared observations have highlighted the need for theoretical calibrations of classical Cepheid observables in modern photometric systems optimized for precision distance-scale applications. Aims. This work provides a homogeneous theoretical framework for classical Cepheids in the JWST/NIRCam and Roman/WFI photometric systems and explores its implications for their use as standard candles in the near-infrared regime. Methods. We exploited an extensive grid of nonlinear convective pulsation models transformed into the JWST/NIRCam and Roman/WFI systems. The models span a broad range of masses, effective temperatures, periods, metallicities, and assumptions on the efficiency of superadiabatic convection and on the adopted mass-luminosity relation. From these models, we derived mean magnitudes, colors, pulsation amplitudes, amplitude ratios, and new theoretical period-luminosity-color, period-Wesenheit, and metal-dependent period-Wesenheit relations. Results. We compared the theoretical Wesenheit relations with recent JWST observations of classical Cepheids in six SN Ia host galaxies from the SH0ES collaboration. We found excellent agreement between theoretical predictions and observations, with the largest systematic effects arising from the adopted mass-luminosity relation. The distance moduli derived from the theoretical relations are fully consistent with the empirical JWST determinations when a mildly overluminous mass-luminosity relation is adopted instead of the canonical one. Conclusions. These results establish a self-consistent pulsation-based calibration for JWST and Roman observations and provide a theoretical framework for future precision studies of the local distance scale.
SN - 0004-6361
SN - 1432-0746
ER -