Classification of variable stars in the WFCAM Transit Survey

Abstract

The WFCAM Transit Survey is a photometric survey in the near-infrared and aims at finding Earth-like planets transiting M-dwarf stars. As a by-product of the survey, a variety of variable stars has been detected. We report the discovery and classification of 192 periodic variable stars in the WFCAM Transit Survey. 185 of those objects are previously unknown variable sources. The derived parameters of their light curves will be helpful for the creation of a robust sample of light curves (and their parameters thereof) of classified variable stars in the near-infrared for the automatic classification of light curves of stellar objects in the J-band.