Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2017
The question of whether or not the period changes observed in some classical cepheids are due to evolution across the HR diagram remains controversial. On the one hand, it is known that the stars are indeed evolving across the diagram and are therefore changing their radii and must therefore be changing their periods. On the other hand, only a fraction of cepheids appear to have period changes, and some of these seem to be in the form of sudden jumps. Is it then that the evolutionary changes are too small to be detected, and the observed changes due to something else? This note explores the question.