We present near-infrared color-magnitude diagrams for the LMC star clusters Hodge 4 and NGC 1651 revealing the helium burning red clump stars for the first time in the JK passbands .
From these diagrams , which extend to K \sim 19 , and existing optical CMDs that reveal the clusters ’ main sequence turnoffs , we determine the following cluster parameters .
For Hodge 4 , we estimate a metallicity of [ Fe / H ] = -0.17 \pm 0.04 , an age of 1.7 \pm 0.3 Gyr , and a red clump absolute magnitude of M _ { K } ( RC ) = -1.64 \pm 0.17 .
Along with an adopted reddening of E ( J - K ) = 0.03 \pm 0.01 based on the Burstein & Heiles and Schlegel et al .
reddening maps , we find a distance of ( m - M ) _ { 0 } = 18.52 \pm 0.17 for Hodge 4 .
In the case of NGC 1651 , we derive [ Fe / H ] = -0.07 \pm 0.10 , an age of 1.8 \pm 0.3 Gyr , M _ { K } ( RC ) = -1.56 \pm 0.12 , E ( J - K ) = 0.06 \pm 0.01 , and ( m - M ) _ { 0 } = 18.55 \pm 0.12 , all measured in the same manner as for Hodge 4 .
Based on these two clusters , we calculate a mean LMC distance of ( m - M ) _ { 0 } = 18.54 \pm 0.10 .