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Article Contents

ABSTRACT

1.INTRODUCTION

1.1.Early Concepts

1.2.Important Steps Towards the Cosmological Distance Ladder

1.3.A Brief History of SBFs

2.THE METHOD

2.1.Types of Fluctuations

2.2.SBF Signal Measurement

3.OBSERVATIONS

3.1.Optical SBF

3.2.Near-Infrared SBF

3.3.SBF from HST

3.3.1.Optical

3.3.2.Near-Infrared

3.4.Stellar Population Gradients

4.SBF AS A STANDARD CANDLE

4.1.Caveats for Distance Determinations

4.1.1.Target Selection

4.1.2.PSF Modelling

4.1.3.Background Sources

4.1.4.The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

5.THEORY MEETS OBSERVATION

5.1.Origin of SBFs

5.2.The Late Stages of Cool Giant Stars

5.3.Improved Stellar Population Models

6.A MEASURE OF DISTANCE-INDEPENDENT LUMINOSITIES

7.CONCLUSIONS

8.FUTURE DIRECTIONS

REFERENCES