The Astrophysical Journal, 611:270–293, 2004 August 10 A # 2004. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. INFRARED SURFACE BRIGHTNESS FLUCTUATIONS OF MAGELLANIC STAR CLUSTERS1 Rosa A. Gonza´lez Centro de Radioastronomı´a y Astrofı´sica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Me´xico, Campus Morelia, Michoaca´n CP 58190, Mexico;
[email protected] Michael C. Liu Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822;
[email protected] and Gustavo Bruzual A. Centro de Investigaciones de Astronomı´a, Apartado Postal 264, Me´rida 5101-A, Venezuela;
[email protected] Received 2003 November 27; accepted 2004 April 16 ABSTRACT We present surface brightness fluctuations (SBFs) in the near-IR for 191 Magellanic star clusters available in the Second Incremental and All Sky Data releases of the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) and compare them with SBFs of Fornax Cluster galaxies and with predictions from stellar population models as well. We also construct color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) for these clusters using the 2MASS Point Source Catalog (PSC). Our goals are twofold. The first is to provide an empirical calibration of near-IR SBFs, given that existing stellar population synthesis models are particularly discrepant in the near-IR. Second, whereas most previous SBF studies have focused on old, metal-rich populations, this is the first application to a system with such a wide range of ages (106 to more than 1010 yr, i.e., 4 orders of magnitude), at the same time that the clusters have a very narrow range of metallicities (Z 0:0006 0:01, i.e., 1 order of magnitude only).