LCID project VIII. Cepheids of Leo A

We detected 166 bona fide variables in our field, of which about 60% are new discoveries and 33 candidate variables. Of the confirmed variables, we found 156 Cepheids, but only 10 RR Lyrae stars despite nearly 100percent completeness at the magnitude of the horizontal branch.

The RR Lyrae stars include seven fundamental and three first-overtone pulsators, with mean periods of 0.636 and 0.366d, respectively. From their position on the period-luminosity (PL) diagram and light-curve morphology, we classify 91, 58 and 4 Cepheids as fundamental, first-overtone and second-overtone mode Classical Cepheids (CC), respectively, and two as Population II Cepheids. However, due to the low metallicity of Leo A, about 90percent of the detected Cepheids have periods shorter than 1.5d.