A pulsational distance to ω Centauri based on Near-Infrared Period-Luminosity relations of RR Lyrae stars

We present new Near-Infrared (J ,K) magnitudes for 114 RR Lyrae stars in the globular cluster ω Cen (NGC 5139) which we combine with data from the literature to construct a sample of 180 RR Lyrae stars with J and K mean magnitudes on a common photometric system. This is presently the largest such 1 Based in part on observations collected with the New Technology Telescope operated at ESO, La Silla, under programmes: 066D-0557; 068D-0545 INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Collurania, via M. Maggini, 64100 Teramo, Italy; [email protected], [email protected] Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, An der Sternwarte 16, D-14482 Potsdam, Germany; [email protected] 4 INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati 33, 00040, Monte Porzio Catone, Italy; [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] 5 Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council, 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada; [email protected] 6 Universita’ di Roma Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Rome, Italy INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, via Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli; [email protected], [email protected] Centre for Astrophysics, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE; [email protected] IAC Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Calle Via Lactea, E38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; [email protected] INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via G.B. Tiepolo 11, 40131 Trieste, Italy; [email protected] Guest User, Canadian Astronomy Data Centre, which is operated by the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council of Canada. Guest Investigator of the UK Astronomy Data Centre.