Rate of Period Change as a Diagnostic of Cepheid Properties

The rate of period change P˙ for a Cepheid is shown to be a parameter that is capable of indicating the instability‐strip crossing mode for individual objects and, in conjunction with light amplitude, the likely location of the object within the instability strip. The observed rates of period change in over 200 Milky Way Cepheids are demonstrated to be in general agreement with predictions from stellar evolutionary models, although the sample also displays features that are inconsistent with some published models and indicative of the importance of additional factors not fully incorporated in models to date.