We present a Bayesian analysis of the distances to 15,040 Large Magellanic Cloud ( LMC ) RR Lyrae stars using V - and I -band light curves from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment , in combination with new z -band observations from the Dark Energy Camera .
Our median individual RR Lyrae distance statistical error is 1.89 kpc ( fractional distance error of 3.76 per cent ) .
We present three-dimensional contour plots of the number density of LMC RR Lyrae stars and measure a distance to the core LMC RR Lyrae centre of { 50.2482 \pm 0.0546 ~ { } { ( statistical ) } ~ { } \pm 0.4628 ~ { } { ( systematic ) } ~ { } { % kpc } } [ \mu _ { LMC } = 18.5056 \pm 0.0024 ~ { } { ( statistical ) } ~ { } \pm 0.02 ~ { } { ( % systematic ) } ] .
This finding is statistically consistent with and four times more precise than the canonical value determined by a recent meta-analysis of 233 separate LMC distance determinations .
We also measure a maximum tilt angle of 11.84 ^ { \circ } \pm 0.80 ^ { \circ } at a position angle of 62 ^ { \circ } , and report highly precise constraints on the V , I , and z RR Lyrae period–magnitude relations .
The full dataset of observed mean-flux magnitudes , derived colour excess { E ( V - I ) } values , and fitted RR Lyrae distances produced through this work is made available through the publication ’ s associated online data .