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Session 12 - Cosmology, Large-Scale Structure and Distance Scales.
Display session, Monday, June 10
Great Hall,
We present preliminary results from our program to measure infrared surface brightness fluctuations (SBFs) of elliptical galaxies using the 10-meter Keck Telescope. Unlike most cosmological distance indicators, SBF measurements are appealing because of their well-understood physical basis. As SBFs in ellipticals are dominated by late-type stars, IR measurements offer the potential to measure distances 2--3 times as far as previous optical SBF work. We have successfully detected K-band (2.2 \mum) SBFs of Coma cluster ellipticals (cz \approx 7000 km/s), the most distant SBF measurements to date. Combined with our ongoing effort at the Lick 3-meter telescope to calibrate the SBF zero point, distance measurements out to 100 h^-1 Mpc and, consequently, a determination of the Hubble Constant uncontaminated by local peculiar velocities seem within reach.
