Topic: RR Lyrae

Pulsating ancient stars preserve information about distance, chemical composition and age that can constrain the early history of galaxies. Earl Patrick Bellinger describes advances in stellar-evolution and pulsation simulations, together with machine-learning acceleration, that allow these stellar records to test models of galaxy formation. The talk develops two applications. RR Lyrae stars trace the Galactic halo and Milky Way dwarf galaxies; a new physics-informed approach to their observations enables distance precision of about one percent almost to the Milky Way’s virial radius, support

Pulsating ancient stars preserve information about distances, chemical composition and ages, offering a record of the early universe. This talk describes advances in stellar evolution and pulsation simulations, including machine-learning acceleration, that make these records useful for testing galaxy-formation models. Earl Patrick Bellinger examines RR Lyrae stars in the Galactic halo and Milky Way dwarf galaxies, and the nature of JWST Little Red Dots. A physics-informed approach to stellar pulsations enables distance estimates at approximately one-percent precision nearly to the Milky Way vi