Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
Using rich photometric material on the Cepheids in the Galaxy and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the structure of the instability strip in the HR diagram is investigated. The method of the δ-δ diagrams is used, δ being the difference of certain Cepheid characteristics from the means for a given period. The Cepheids in the three galaxies, studied separately, show the same relationship: the light amplitude increases toward the low temperature limit of the instability strip and is also related with the temperature at maximum in the sense that Cepheids with a given period and fixed mean temperature have a greater light amplitude for a higher temperature at maximum. Our results do not coincide with those by Sandage and Tammann, probably because they have studied the Cepheids in the different star systems as one single complex.