Period Determination of RR Lyrae Stars

Robert F. Stellingwerf
Stellingwerf Consulting

ABSTRACT

The classic problem of detection of periodic signals in the presence of noise becomes much more challenging if the observation times are themselves periodic, contain large gaps, or consist of data from several different instruments. For RR Lyrae light curves the additional attribute of highly non-sinusoidal variations adds another dimension. Various approaches to this problem will be discussed and contrasted.