Galactic star clusters in SDSS. II. Colors.

We generate a set of isochrones using the Yale Rotating Evolutionary Code with updated input physics, and derive magnitudes and colors in ugriz from MARCS model atmospheres. These models match cluster MSs over a wide range of metallicity within the errors of the adopted cluster parameters.

However, we find a large discrepancy of model colors at the lower MS (T_eff_<~4500K) for clusters at and above solar metallicity. We also reach similar conclusions using the theoretical isochrones of Girardi et al. and Dotter et al., but our new models are generally in better agreement with the data. Using our theoretical isochrones, we also derive MS-fitting distances and turnoff ages for five key globular clusters, and demonstrate the ability to derive these quantities from photometric data in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.