RR Lyrae-based Distances to 39 Local Group Dwarf Galaxies

In this work, I used periods and magnitude for RR Lyrae stars from the literature to derive new, uniform distance measurements for 39 dwarf galaxies in and around the Local Group. I used Bayesian hierarchical modeling to simultaneously derive the Period-Wesenheit Magnitude-Metallicity (PWZ) relation for each dwarf galaxy, and calibrated the resulting distance measurements using Milky Way RR Lyrae with precise Gaia eDR3 parallaxes. On average, these distance moduli were 2-3 times more precise and 0.05 magnitudes closer than literature values. I developed public code that can be used to incorporate additional data into the model and apply the distance scale to new dwarf galaxies.

Read more about this research project in the associated publication here.