We measure F814W Surface Brightness Fluctuations (SBFs) for a sample of distant shell galaxies observed with the Advanced Camera for Survey (ACS) on board of HST. To evaluate the distance at galaxies, theoretical SBF magnitudes for the ACS@HST filter
s are computed for single burst stellar populations covering a wide range of ages (t=1.5-14 Gyr) and metallicities (Z=0.008-0.04). Using these stellar population models we provide the first M_SBF,F814W versus (F475W-F814W)0 calibration. The results suggest that optical SBFs can be measured at d>100 Mpc using high resolution spatial optical data.
We measure F814W Surface Brightness Fluctuations (SBF) for a sample of distant shell galaxies with radial velocities ranging from 4000 to 8000 km/s. The distance at galaxies is then evaluated by using the SBF method. For this purpose, theoretical SBF
magnitudes for the ACS@HST filters are computed for single burst stellar populations covering a wide range of ages (t=1.5-14 Gyr) and metallicities (Z=0.008-0.04). Using these stellar population models we provide the first $bar{M}_{F814W}$ versus $(F475W-F814W)_0$ calibration and we extend the previous I-band versus $(B-I)_0$ color relation to colors $(B-I)_{0}leq 2.0$ mag. Coupling our SBF measurements with the theoretical calibration we derive distances with a statistical uncertainty of $sim 8%$, and systematic error of $sim 6 %$. The procedure developed to analyze data ensures that the indetermination due to possible unmasked residual shells is well below $sim 12 %$. The results suggest that emph{optical} SBFs can be measured at $d geq 100 Mpc$ with ACS@HST imaging. SBF-based distances coupled with recession velocities corrected for peculiar motion, allow us obtain $H_{0} = 76 pm 6$ (statistical) $pm 5$ (systematic) km/s/Mpc.
