Surface Brightness Fluctuations of Fornax Cluster Galaxies: Calibration of Infrared Sbfs and Evidence for Recent Star Formation

We have measured KS-band (2.0–2.3 μm) surface brightness fluctuations (SBFs) of 19 early-type galaxies in the Fornax cluster. Fornax is ideally suited both for calibrating SBFs as distance indicators and for using SBFs to probe the unresolved stellar content of early-type galaxies. Combining our results with published data for other nearby clusters, we calibrate KS-band SBFs using HST Cepheid cluster distances and I-band SBF distances to individual galaxies. With the latter, the resulting calibration is MKS = (−5.84± 0.04) + (3.6± 0.8)[(V −Ic)0 − 1.15], valid for 1.05 < (V −Ic)0 < 1.25 and not including any systematic errors in the HST Cepheid distance scale. The fit accounts for the covariance between V −Ic and MKS when calibrated in this fashion. The intrinsic cosmic scatter of MKS appears to be larger than that of I-band SBFs. S0 galaxies may follow a different relation though the data are inconclusive. The discovery of a correlation between KS-band fluctuation magnitudes and colors with V −Ic is a new clue into the star formation histories of early-type galaxies. This relation naturally accounts for galaxies previously claimed to have anomalously bright K-band SBFs, namely M32 and NGC 4489. Models indicate that the stellar populations dominating the SBF signal have a significant range in age; some scatter in metallicity may also be present. The youngest ages imply some galaxies have very luminous giant branches, akin to those in intermediate-age (few Gyr) Magellanic Cloud clusters. The inferred metallicities are roughly solar, though this depends on the choice of theoretical models. A few Fornax galaxies have unusually bright KS-band SBFs, perhaps originating from a high metallicity burst of star formation in the last few Gyr. The increased spread and brightening of the KS-band SBFs with bluer V −Ic suggest that the lower mass cluster galaxies (. 0.1L) may have had more extended and more heterogeneous star formation histories than those of the more massive galaxies. Subject headings: distance scale — galaxies: distances and redshifts — galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD — galaxies: stellar content — infrared: galaxies