Browsing by Author "Ferreira, T. S."

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    Unveiling short-period binaries in the inner VVV bulge
    (2021) Botan, E.; Saito, R. K.; Minniti, D.; Kanaan, A.; Ramos, R. Contreras; Ferreira, T. S.; Gramajo, L., V; Navarro, M. G.
    Most of our knowledge of the structure of the Milky Way has come from the study of variable stars. Among these variables, mimicking the periodic variation of pulsating stars, are eclipsing binaries. These stars are important in astrophysics because they allow us to directly measure the radii and masses of the components, as well as the distance to the system, thus being useful in studies of Galactic structure alongside pulsating RR Lyrae and Cepheids. Using the distinguishing features of their light curves, one can identify them using a semi-automated process. In this work, we present a strategy to search for eclipsing variables in the inner VVV bulge across an area of 13.4 deg(2) within 1.68 degrees < l < 7.53 degrees and -3.73 degrees < b < -1.44 degrees, corresponding to the VVV tiles b293-b296 and b307-b310. We accurately classify 212 previously unknown eclipsing binaries, including six very reddened sources. A preliminary analysis suggests that these eclipsing binaries are located in the most obscured regions of the foreground disc and bulge of the Galaxy. This search is therefore complementary to other variable-star searches carried out at optical wavelengths.
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    VVV survey near-infrared colour catalogue of known variable stars
    (2021) Herpich, F. R.; Ferreira Lopes, C. E.; Saito, R. K.; Minniti, D.; Ederoclite, A.; Ferreira, T. S.; Catelan, Marcio
    Context. The Vista Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) near-infrared variability survey explores some of the most complex regions of the Milky Way bulge and disk in terms of high extinction and high crowding. Aims: We add a new wavelength dimension to the optical information available at the American Association of Variable Star Observers International Variable Star Index (VSX-AAVSO) catalogue to test the VVV survey near-infrared photometry to better characterise these objects. Methods: We cross-matched the VVV and the VSX-AAVSO catalogues along with Gaia Data Release 2 photometry and parallax. Results: We present a catalogue that includes accurate individual coordinates, near-infrared magnitudes (ZYJHKs), extinctions AKs, and distances based on Gaia parallaxes. We also show the near-infrared CMDs and spatial distributions for the different VSX types of variable stars, including important distance indicators, such as RR Lyrae, Cepheids, and Miras. By analysing the photometric flags in our catalogue, we found that about 20% of the stars with measured and verified variability are flagged as non-stellar sources, even when they are outside of the saturation and/or noise regimes. Additionally, we pair-matched our sample with the VIVA catalogue and found that more than half of our sources are missing from the VVV variability list, mostly due to observations with low signal-to-noise ratio or photometric problems with a low percentage due to failures in the selection process. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the current knowledge of the variability in the Galaxy is biased to nearby stars with low extinction. The present catalogue also provides the groundwork for characterising the results of future large variability surveys such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time in the highly crowded and reddened regions of the Galactic plane, as well as follow-up campaigns for characterising specific types of variables. The analysis of the incorrectly flagged stars can be used to improve the photometric classification of the VVV data, allowing us to expand the amount of data considered useful for science purposes. In addition, we provide a list of stars that are missed by the VIVA procedures for which the observations are good and which were missed due to some failure in the VIVA selection process. Data used in this work is fully and only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/647/A169 Based on observations taken within the ESO Public Survey, Programme IDs 179.B-2002....