YJKs light curves of SMC Classical Cepheids

Here, we present Y, J, Ks light curves for a sample of 717 Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) Classical Cepheids (CCs). These data, complemented with our previous results and V magnitude from literature, allowed us to construct a variety of period-luminosity and period-Wesenheit relationships, valid for Fundamental, First and Second Overtone pulsators.

These relations provide accurate individual distances to CCs in the SMC over an area of more than 40 deg^2^. Adopting literature relations, we estimated ages and metallicities for the majority of the investigated pulsators, finding that (i) the age distribution is bimodal, with two peaks at 120+/-10 and 220+/-10Myr; (i) the more metal-rich CCs appear to be located closer to the centre of the galaxy. Our results show that the three-dimensional distribution of the CCs in the SMC is not planar but heavily elongated for more than 25-30kpc approximately in the east/north-east towards south-west direction.