A Hierarchical Bayesian Differential Calibration of the Gaia DR3 Parallax Zero Point Using Galactic Globular Clusters

Globular clusters (GCs) occupy a broad range of stellar colors and magnitudes while sharing nearly the same distance. Gaia Data Release 3 parallaxes retain systematic zero-point residual variations for GCs, even after the correction by the widely used standard correction model (L21). We derive an empirical residual correction by the Hierarchical Bayesian Model, separating cluster-level offsets from the differential information carried by the member sequences. We first evaluate the L21 baseline at a fixed reference color, which assigns the remaining color-dependent correction to the residual model. Then we model the residual zero point, $δZ(G,ν_{\rm eff})$, with B-splines functions in color and magnitude--color interaction terms. The uncorrected cluster residuals exhibit a negative offset of approximately $25$--$40~μ{\rm as}$. The L21 baseline removes most of this offset but leaves coherent color- and magnitude-dependent structure. Applying the residual model brings the mean residuals close to zero, especially across most of the sampled color range. In five-fold cross-validation that excludes entire clusters from training, the correction modestly reduces the magnitude- and color-trend RMS relative to the L21 correction. The resulting model therefore provides a differential refinement of the \textit{Gaia} DR3 parallax zero-point within the calibrated domain for GCs, rather than an independent determination of its absolute value.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
arXiv (Cornell University)
Published
2026-10-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2610.36543
Primary Topic
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
Type
preprint
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preprint

A Hierarchical Bayesian Differential Calibration of the Gaia DR3 Parallax Zero Point Using Galactic Globular Clusters

S. Liao, Zhaoxiang Qi, Qiqi Wu, Ye Ding et al.
arXiv (Cornell University)
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
preprint

A Hierarchical Bayesian Differential Calibration of the Gaia DR3 Parallax Zero Point Using Galactic Globular Clusters

S. Liao, Zhaoxiang Qi, Qiqi Wu, Ye Ding, Keyu Zhu, Qi Xu
preprint en

Abstract

Globular clusters (GCs) occupy a broad range of stellar colors and magnitudes while sharing nearly the same distance. Gaia Data Release 3 parallaxes retain systematic zero-point residual variations for GCs, even after the correction by the widely used standard correction model (L21). We derive an empirical residual correction by the Hierarchical Bayesian Model, separating cluster-level offsets from the differential information carried by the member sequences. We first evaluate the L21 baseline at a fixed reference color, which assigns the remaining color-dependent correction to the residual model. Then we model the residual zero point, $δZ(G,ν_{\rm eff})$, with B-splines functions in color and magnitude--color interaction terms. The uncorrected cluster residuals exhibit a negative offset of approximately $25$--$40~μ{\rm as}$. The L21 baseline removes most of this offset but leaves coherent color- and magnitude-dependent structure. Applying the residual model brings the mean residuals close to zero, especially across most of the sampled color range. In five-fold cross-validation that excludes entire clusters from training, the correction modestly reduces the magnitude- and color-trend RMS relative to the L21 correction. The resulting model therefore provides a differential refinement of the \textit{Gaia} DR3 parallax zero-point within the calibrated domain for GCs, rather than an independent determination of its absolute value.

arXiv (Cornell University)
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
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