Planetary nebulae as standard candles. VIII. Evidence for a change in the luminosity function cutoff at low metallicity

Robin Ciardullo, George H. Jacoby

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

31 Scopus citations

Abstract

We search for a change in the [O III] λ5007 planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF) with metallicity by combining the planetary nebula (PN) observations of four metal-poor galaxies in the Local Group: M32, NGC 185, NGC 205, and the Small Magellanic Cloud. We show that the most likely magnitude cutoff for the PNs in our sample is 0.28+0.11-0.17 mag fainter than the value of M* observed in the bulge of M31, but consistency with the M31 measurement cannot be ruled out beyond the 70% confidence level. The data suggest that PN-based distances may depend slightly on the underlying stellar population, with a factor of 10 in metal abundance translating into an apparent shift in the value of M* by 0.25 mag (D(PNLF) ∝ Z-0.05). However, because this variation is small, and population differences among luminous early-type cluster galaxies are usually slight, the effect is not important for cosmological distance determinations. The observed shift in the luminosity function is in good agreement with the theoretically derived metallicity dependence of Dopita, Jacoby, & Vassiliadis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)268-271
Number of pages4
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume388
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 1 1992

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Planetary nebulae as standard candles. VIII. Evidence for a change in the luminosity function cutoff at low metallicity'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this