Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
RR Lyrae variables play a prominent role in many of the problems of globular clusters, and from several points of view. In the first place they can be considered as pretty good indicators of population and distance; although they do not form a completely homogeneous set of stars, the knowledge of their mean absolute magnitude gives a powerful means of establishing distances within and outside the Galaxy, and hence of determining the form and size of the Galaxy itself. Moreover, the number of RR Lyrae stars in clusters, the relative frequency of RRc and RRab, types, the length of the transition periods, the array of colors, when correctly interpreted, give important information on the degree of evolution, age and chemical composition of the clusters. Placed as they are in a peculiar region of the H — R diagram of Population II, the RR Lyr variables can be used as a good test of the theories of advanced evolution or the models of pulsating stars.