Photometric Metallicity and Distance Estimates for ∼70,000 RR Lyrae Stars from the Zwicky Transient Facility

Abstract Utilizing Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) data and existing RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) catalogs, this study achieves the first calibration of the P − ϕ 31 − R 21 − [Fe/H] and P − ϕ 31 − A 2 − A 1 − [Fe/H] relations in the ZTF photometric system for RRab and RRc stars. We also recalibrate the period–absolute magnitude–metallicity (PMZ) and period–Wesenheit–metallicity (PWZ) relations in the ZTF gri bands for RRab and RRc stars. Based on nearly 4100 stars with precise measurements of P , ϕ 31 , A 2 , and A 1 , and available spectroscopic metallicity estimates, the photometric metallicity relations exhibit strong internal consistency across different bands, supporting the use of a weighted averaging method for the final estimates. The photometric metallicity estimates of globular clusters based on RR Lyrae members also show excellent agreement with high-resolution spectroscopic measurements, with a typical scatter of 0.15 dex for RRab stars and 0.14 dex for RRc stars, respectively. Using hundreds of local RRLs with newly derived photometric metallicities and precise Gaia Data Release 3 parallaxes, we establish the PMZ and PWZ relations in multiple bands. Validation with globular cluster RR Lyrae members reveals typical distance errors of 3.1% and 3.0% for the PMZ relations, and 3.1% and 2.6% for the PWZ relations for RRab and RRc stars, respectively. Compared to PMZ relations, the PWZ relations are tighter and almost unbiased, making them the recommended choice for distance calculations. We present a catalog of 73,795 RRLs with precise photometric metallicities; over 95% of them have accurate distance measurements. Compared to Gaia DR3, approximately 25,000 RRLs have precise photometric metallicities and distances derived for the first time.