The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. The OGLE-III Catalog of Variable Stars. XV. Long-Period Variables in the Galactic Bulge

Abstract: The fifteenth part of the OGLE-III Catalog of Variable Stars (OIII-CVS) contains 232,406 long-period variables (LPVs) detected in the OGLE-II and OGLE-III fields toward the Galactic bulge. The sample consists of 6528 Mira stars, 33,235 semiregular variables and 192,643 OGLE small amplitude red giants. The catalog data and data resources that are being published include observational parameters of stars, finding charts, and time-series I- and V-band photometry obtained between 1997 and 2009. We discuss statistical features of the sample and compare it with collections of LPVs in the Magellanic Clouds. The vast majority of red giant stars in the Galactic bulge have an oxygen-rich chemistry. Mira variables form a separate group in the period-amplitude diagram, which was not noticed for oxygen-rich Miras in the Magellanic Clouds. We find a clear deficit of long-secondary period stars toward the Galactic center compared to the sample of Magellanic Clouds' LPVs.