Surface brightness fluctuations, tracers of stellar mass-loss?

Abstract We present optical and IR integrated colors and SBF magnitudes, computed from stellar population synthesis models that include emission from the dusty envelopes surrounding mass-loosing TP-AGB stars. We explore the effects of varying the mass-loss rate by one order of magnitude around the fiducial value, modifying accordingly both the stellar parameters and the output spectra of the TP-AGB stars plus their dusty envelopes. We compare these models to optical and near-IR data of single AGB stars and Magellanic star clusters. Neither broad-band colors nor SBF measurements in the optical or the near-IR can discern global changes in the mass-loss rate of a stellar population. However, we predict that mid-IR SBF measurements can pick out such changes, and actually resolve whether a relation between metallicity and mass-loss exists.