J/MNRAS/517/257ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/517/257CDSSanders J.L.Matsunaga N.Kawata D.Smith L.C.Minniti D.Lucas P.W.2026-05-06T13:36:25Z2025-11-18T13:12:20ZCDS support team

CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France

cds-question@unistra.frvariable-starsgiant-starsmilky-way-galaxyinfrared-astronomyphotometryastrometryspectroscopystellar-mass-lossThe properties of the Milky Way's nuclear stellar disc give crucial information on the epoch of bar formation. Mira variables are promising bright candidates to study the nuclear stellar disc, and through their period-age relation dissect its star formation history. We report on a sample of 1782 Mira variable candidates across the central 3*3 deg^2^ of the Galaxy using the multi-epoch infrared VISTA Variables in Via Lactea (VVV) survey. We describe the algorithms employed to select candidate variable stars and then model their light curves using periodogram and Gaussian process methods. By combining with WISE, 2MASS, and other archival photometry, we model the multiband light curves to refine the periods and inspect the amplitude variation between different photometric bands. The infrared brightness of the Mira variables means many are too bright and missed by VVV. However, our sample follows a well-defined selection function as expected from artificial star tests. The multiband photometry is modelled using stellar models with circumstellar dust that characterize the mass-loss rates. We demonstrate how ~>90 per cent of our sample is consistent with O-rich chemistry. Comparison to period-luminosity relations demonstrates that the bulk of the short period stars are situated at the Galactic Centre distance. Many of the longer period variables are very dusty, falling significantly under the O-rich Magellanic Cloud and solar neighbourhood period-luminosity relations and exhibit high mass-loss rates of ~2.5*10^-5^M_{sun}_yr^-1^. The period distribution appears consistent with the nuclear stellar disc forming ~> 8 Gyr ago, although it is not possible to disentangle the relative contributions of the nuclear stellar disc and the contaminating bulge.2022MNRAS.517..257Shttps://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/517/257CatalogResearchIsServedByTAP VizieR generic serviceIsServedByConesearch servicerelated-toJ/MNRAS/509/2566 : VIVACE, VIrac VAriable Classification EnsembleJ/MNRAS/483/5150 : Variables in NGC 3109 dwarf irregular galaxy (Menzies+,2019)J/MNRAS/483/3022 : Age gradients throughout the Galaxy with LPVs (Grady+, 2019)J/MNRAS/482/5567 : Stellar variability in Galactic CentreJ/MNRAS/455/2216 : Outer bulge O-rich Mira's JHKL photometry (Catchpole+, 2016)J/MNRAS/452/910 : IC 1613 asymptotic giant branch variables (Menzies+, 2015)J/MNRAS/414/3492 : JHKs photometry of Sculptor dSph galaxy (Menzies+, 2011)J/MNRAS/399/1709 : Near-infrared survey of Miras (Matsunaga+, 2009)J/MNRAS/386/313 : IR observations of Mira variables (Whitelock+, 2008)J/MNRAS/321/77 : Large-amplitude variables near the Galactic CentreJ/MNRAS/317/460 : Kinematics of Mira stars (Feast+, 2000)J/ApJ/919/99 : WISE & Spitzer obs. of OGLE Miras in the LMC (Iwanek+, 2021)J/ApJ/901/109 : Ages & [Fe/H] of the MW bulge using APOGEEJ/ApJ/889/5 : HST obs. of Mira variables in the SNIa host NGC1559J/ApJ/884/20 : OGLE-III Mira variables in the Magellanic CloudsJ/ApJ/877/49 : DUSTiNGS. V. 3.6 and 4.5um light curves (Goldman+, 2019)J/ApJ/857/67 : HST obs. of Mira candidates in NGC 4258 (Huang+, 2018)J/ApJ/737/73 : Infrared extinction toward the Galactic Centre (Fritz+,2011)J/ApJ/723/1195 : SAGE AGB candidates (Riebel+, 2010)J/ApJS/257/23 : Multiwavelength obs. of Miras in the LMC (Iwanek+, 2021)J/ApJS/256/43 : O-rich and C-rich AGB stars in our Galaxy (Suh, 2021)J/AJ/163/192 : 807 Mira variable stars photometry in Magellanic CloudsJ/AJ/154/149 : LMC NIR synoptic survey. V. NIR photometry of MirasJ/AJ/153/170 : The M33 Synoptic Stellar Survey. II. Mira variablesJ/AJ/152/164 : I-band light curves of OGLE LMC Miras (He+, 2016)J/AJ/149/64 : MIPSGAL 24{mu}m point source catalog (Gutermuth+, 2015)J/AJ/136/1242 : LMC long-period variables from MACHO (Fraser+, 2008)J/AJ/136/1221 : Most luminous LMC sources at 8{mu}m (Kastner+, 2008)J/A+A/662/A11 : Milky Way's Nuclear Stellar Disc pm catalogJ/A+A/660/A35 : VVV survey. Long-period variable stars (Nikzat+, 2022)J/A+A/642/A81 : APOGEE cool stars (Schultheis+, 2020)J/A+A/631/A20 : GALACTICNUCLEUS JHKs imaging survey. II.J/A+A/609/A114 : Local Group AGB stars and red supergiantsJ/A+A/564/A84 : WISE model grids for O- and C-rich AGB (Lian+, 2014)J/A+A/549/A147 : Abundances of microlensed bulge dwarf stars. V.J/A+A/442/281 : Late-type giants BVRIJHKL and Teff calibrationJ/A+A/503/913 : Synthetic spectrophotometry for C-rich giantsJ/AcA/63/21 : VI light curves of Galactic LPVs (Soszynski+, 2013)J/AcA/59/239 : VI light curves of LMC long-period variablesVII/233 : 2MASS All-Sky Extended Source Catalog (XSC)II/376 : VISTA Variable in the Via Lactea Survey (VVV) DR4.2II/364 : VIRAC. The VVV Infrared Astrometric Catalogue (Smith+, 2019)II/337 : VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea Survey DR1 (Saito+, 2012)II/311 : WISE All-Sky Data Release (Cutri+ 2012)II/297 : AKARI/IRC mid-IR all-sky Survey (ISAS/JAXA, 2010)II/243 : The ISOGAL Point Source Catalogue - IGPSC (Omont+ 2003)I/337 : Gaia DR1 (Gaia Collaboration, 2016)I/345 : Gaia DR2 (Gaia Collaboration, 2018)https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.htmlhttps://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/MNRAS/517/257https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/MNRAS/517/257http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/MNRAS/517/257https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/MNRAS/517/257https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/MNRAS/517/257http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/MNRAS/517/257GETtext/xml+votablehttps://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tapCone search capability for table J/MNRAS/517/257/table (Photometric and spectroscopic properties of our Mira variable candidates sample)https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/MNRAS/517/257/table?https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/MNRAS/517/257/table?http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/MNRAS/517/257/table?GETtext/xml+votable180.050000true266.227573616388-29.06634177463660.0055555555555555565/7206-7207 6/28819 28822 28848-28849 28852-28854https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/moc/J/MNRAS/517/257?format=asciiInfrareddefaultJ/MNRAS/517/257/tablePhotometric and spectroscopic properties of our Mira variable candidates samplerecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintIDIdentifier raw number (virac_mira_id)meta.id;meta.mainintRAJ2000Right ascension (J2000) (ra)degpos.eq.ra;meta.mainDEJ2000Declination (J2000) (dec)degpos.eq.dec;meta.mainGLONGalactic longitude (l)degpos.galactic.lonGLATGalactic latitude (b)degpos.galactic.latdoubleIDm09? Sequential number from NIR survey of Miras from Matsunaga et al. 2009MNRAS.399.1709M, Cat. J/MNRAS/399/1709 (M09_id)meta.recordintnullableVVVDR4.2VISTA Variable in the Via Lactea Survey DR4.2 from Saito et al. 2012A&A...537A.107S, Cat. II/376meta.ref.urlcharFlagUnreliable detection flag (unreliable) (1)meta.code.errorintNepochsNumber of K_S_ epochs in the light curves, i.e see section 2.2 and Nepochs distribution in its figure 4 Ks_nepochs (Ks_nepochs)meta.numberintPAssigned variability period (period)dsrc.vardoublee_P? Mean error of P period_error (period_error)dstat.errordoublenullableAmpAssigned variability amplitude in K_S_ magnitude (amplitude)magsrc.var.amplitude;em.IR.KdoubleTotAmp? Total variability amplitude in K_S_ magnitude (total_amplitude)magsrc.var.amplitude;em.IR.KdoublenullablePsPeriod obtained with single light curve method (period_single)dtime.perioddoublee_Ps? Mean error of Ps (period_error_single)dstat.errordoublenullableAmps? Variability amplitude with single light curve method (amplitude_single)magsrc.var.amplitude;em.IR.KdoublenullablePmPeriod obtained from multi-epoch and multi-bands analysis (period_multi)dtime.perioddoubleYmag? Mean apparent magnitude in Vista Y filter (Y_mean_data)magphot.mag;em.IR.Jfloatnullablee_AmpY/Ks? Mean error of AmpY/Ks Y_Ks_amplitude_ratio_error (Y_Ks_amplitude_ratio_error)stat.errordoublenullablee_AmpJ/Ks? Mean error of AmpJ/Ks J_Ks_amplitude_ratio_error (J_Ks_amplitude_ratio_error)stat.errordoublenullablee_AmpH/Ks? Mean error of AmpH/Ks H_Ks_amplitude_ratio_error (H_Ks_amplitude_ratio_error)stat.errordoublenullablee_AmpW1/Ks? Mean error of AmpW1/Ks W1_Ks_amplitude_ratio_error (W1_Ks_amplitude_ratio_error)stat.errordoublenullablee_AmpW2/Ks? Mean error of AmpW2/Ks W2_Ks_amplitude_ratio_error (W2_Ks_amplitude_ratio_error)stat.errordoublenullabletauOptical depth at 10{mu}m from spectral fit analysis (optical_depth_10micron)phys.absorption.opticalDepth;meta.modelleddoubleVexpExpansion velocity from spectral fit analysis (expansion_velocity)km/sphys.absorption.opticalDepth;meta.modelleddoubledM/dtMass loss rates from spectral fit analysis (mass_loss_rate)solMass/yrphys.mass.loss;meta.modelleddoubleS2024Display Mira variable cand. in MW NSD regionof Sanders et al. 2024MNRAS.530.2972S, Cat. J/MNRAS/530/2972meta.ref.urlcharSimbadSimbad column added by the CDSmeta.ref.urlcharTotAmps? Total variability amplitude with single light curve method (total_amplitude_single)mgsrc.var.amplitude;em.IR.Kdoublenullablee_Pm? Mean error of Pm (period_error_multi)dstat.errordoublenullableAmpmVariability amplitude from multi-epoch and multi-bands analysis (amplitude_multi)magsrc.var.amplitudedoubleTotAmpmOtal variability amplitude from multi-epoch and multi-bands analysis (total_amplitude_multi)magsrc.var.amplitudedoubleZmag? Mean apparent magnitude in Vista Z filter (Z_mean_data)magphot.mag;em.opt.IfloatnullableJmag? Mean apparent magnitude in Vista J filter (J_mean_data)magphot.mag;em.IR.JfloatnullableHmag? Mean apparent magnitude in Vista H filter (H_mean_data)magphot.mag;em.IR.HfloatnullableKsmag? Mean apparent magnitude in Vista Ks filter (Ks_mean_data)magphot.mag;em.IR.KdoublenullableKsSmag? Mean apparent magnitude in Vista Ks filter for the single model (Ks_mean_model_single)magphot.mag;em.IR.K;meta.modelleddoublenullablee_KsSmag? Mean error of KsSmag (Ks_error_model_single)magstat.error;phot.magdoublenullableZMmag? Mean apparent magnitude in Vista Z filter for the multi-epoch and multi-bands light curve model (Z_mean_model)magphot.mag;em.opt.I;meta.modelledfloatnullableYMmag? Mean apparent magnitude in Vista Y filter for the multi-epoch and multi-bands light curve model (Y_mean_model)magphot.mag;em.IR.J;meta.modelledfloatnullableJMmag? Mean apparent magnitude in Vista J filter for the multi-epoch and multi-bands light curve model (J_mean_model)magphot.mag;em.IR.J;meta.modelleddoublenullableHMmag? Mean apparent magnitude in Vista H filter for the multi-epoch and multi-bands light curve model (H_mean_model)magphot.mag;em.IR.H;meta.modelleddoublenullableKsMmag? Mean apparent magnitude in Vista Ks filter for the multi-epoch and multi-bands light curve model (Ks_mean_model)magphot.mag;em.IR.K;meta.modelleddoublenullableW1Mmag? Mean apparent magnitude in Wise W1 filter for the multi-epoch and multi-bands light curve model (W1_mean_model)magphot.mag;em.IR.3-4um;meta.modelleddoublenullableW2Mmag? Mean apparent magnitude in Wise W2 filter for the multi-epoch and multi-bands light curve model (W2_mean_model)magphot.mag;em.IR.4-8um;meta.modelleddoublenullablee_ZMmag? Mean error of ZMmag (Z_error_model)magstat.error;phot.magdoublenullablee_YMmag? Mean error of YMmag (Y_error_model)magstat.error;phot.magdoublenullablee_JMmag? Mean error of JMmag (J_error_model)magstat.error;phot.magdoublenullablee_HMmag? Mean error of HMmag (H_error_model)magstat.error;phot.magdoublenullablee_KsMmagMean error of KsMmag (Ks_error_model)magstat.error;phot.magdoublee_W1Mmag? Mean error of W1Mmag (W1_error_model)magstat.error;phot.magdoublenullablee_W2Mmag? Mean error of W2Mmag (W2_error_model)magstat.error;phot.magdoublenullableAmpZ/Ks? Z to Ks amplitude ratio Z_Ks_amplitude_ratio (Z_Ks_amplitude_ratio)src.var.amplitude;arith.ratio;em.opt.IdoublenullableAmpY/Ks? Y to Ks amplitude ratio Y_Ks_amplitude_ratio (Y_Ks_amplitude_ratio)src.var.amplitude;arith.ratio;em.IR.JdoublenullableAmpJ/Ks? J to Ks amplitude ratio J_Ks_amplitude_ratio (J_Ks_amplitude_ratio)src.var.amplitude;arith.ratio;em.IR.JdoublenullableAmpH/Ks? H to Ks amplitude ratio H_Ks_amplitude_ratio (H_Ks_amplitude_ratio)src.var.amplitude;arith.ratio;em.IR.HdoublenullableAmpW1/Ks? W1 to Ks amplitude ratio W1_Ks_amplitude_ratio (W1_Ks_amplitude_ratio)src.var.amplitude;arith.ratio;em.IR.3-4umdoublenullableAmpW2/Ks? W2 to Ks amplitude ratio W2_Ks_amplitude_ratio (W2_Ks_amplitude_ratio)src.var.amplitude;arith.ratio;em.IR.4-8umdoublenullablee_AmpZ/Ks? Mean error of AmpZ/Ks Z_Ks_amplitude_ratio_error (Z_Ks_amplitude_ratio_error)stat.errordoublenullable