Systematic error of the Gaia DR1 TGAS parallaxes from data for the red giant clump

Abstract

Based on the Gaia DR1 TGAS parallaxes and photometry from the Tycho-2, Gaia, 2MASS, andWISE catalogues, we have produced a sample of ~100 000 clump red giants within ~800 pc of the Sun. The systematic variations of the mode of their absolute magnitude as a function of the distance, magnitude, and other parameters have been analyzed. We show that these variations reach 0.7 mag and cannot be explained by variations in the interstellar extinction or intrinsic properties of stars and by selection. The only explanation seems to be a systematic error of the Gaia DR1 TGAS parallax dependent on the square of the observed distance in kpc: 0.18R ² mas. Allowance for this error reduces significantly the systematic dependences of the absolute magnitude mode on all parameters. This error reaches 0.1 mas within 800 pc of the Sun and allows an upper limit for the accuracy of the TGAS parallaxes to be estimated as 0.2 mas. A careful allowance for such errors is needed to use clump red giants as “standard candles.” This eliminates all discrepancies between the theoretical and empirical estimates of the characteristics of these stars and allows us to obtain the first estimates of the modes of their absolute magnitudes from the Gaia parallaxes: mode(M _H ) = −1.49^m ± 0.04^m, mode(M _Ks ) = −1.63^m ± 0.03^m, mode(M _W1) = −1.67^m ± 0.05^m mode(M _W2) = −1.67^m ± 0.05^m, mode(M _W3) = −1.66^m ± 0.02^m, mode(M _W4) = −1.73^m ± 0.03^m, as well as the corresponding estimates of their de-reddened colors.