The unparalleled characteristics of Gaia photometry in terms of calibration, stability, time span, dynamic range, full-sky coverage, and complementary information make it an excellent choice to study stellar variability. To measure the photometric dispersion in the G+GBP+GRP bands of the 145677450 third Gaia data release (DR3) fiveparameter sources with G<=17mag and GBP-GRP between ~1.0 and 8.0mag. To use that unbiased sample to analyze stellar variability in the Milky Way (MW), LMC, and SMC. For each band we convert from magnitude uncertainties to observed photometric dispersions, calculate the instrumental component as a function of apparent magnitude and color, and use it to transform the observed dispersions into the astrophysical ones: S_G_, S_GBP_, and S_GRP_. We give variability indices in the three bands for the whole sample indicating whether the objects are nonvariable, marginally variable, or clearly so.We use the subsample of Rimoldini et al. with light curves and variability types to calibrate our results and establish their limitations. The position of an object in the dispersion-dispersion planes can be used to constrain its variability type, a direct application of these results.We use information from the MW, LMC, and SMC color-absolute magnitude diagrams (CAMDs) to discuss variability across the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. White dwarfs and B-type subdwarfs are more variable than main sequence (MS) or red clump (RC) stars, with a flat distribution in S_G_ up to 10mmag and with variability decreasing for the former with age. The MS region in the Gaia CAMD includes a mixture of populations from the MS itself and from other evolutionary phases. Its S_G_ distribution peaks at low values (~1-2mmag) but it has a large tail dominated by eclipsing binaries, RR Lyr stars, and young stellar objects. RC stars are characterized by little variability, with their sG distribution peaking at 1 mmag or less. The stars in the pre-main-sequence (PMS) region are highly variable, with a power law distribution in sG with slope 2.75 and a cuto for values lower than 7mmag. The luminous red stars region of the Gaia CAMD has the highest variability, with its extreme dominated by AGB stars and with a power law in sG with slope 2.2 that extends from there to a cuto of 7mmag. We show that our method can be used to search for LMC Cepheids. We analyze four stellar clusters with O stars (Villafranca O-016, O-021, O-024, and O-026) and detect a strong difference in S_G_ between stars that are already in the MS and those that are still in the PMS.
Cone search capability for table J/A+A/677/A137/catalog (Gaia DR3 three-band photometric dispersions catalog)
