reasons for them pulsating?! man.. thats some random shit aint it?
i think mainly, they are somehow unstable, their gravitational force inwards is in a disequilibrium with the radiation forces outwards meaning, their size is constantly changing, with pulsating variables- this change is somewhat periodic.
this applies to cepheids, one of the most luminous stellar objects in space. their period on a log scale allows us to predict their absolute M, meaning we can use the distance modulus formula to calculate the distance to the cepheid and hence distant galaxies