On the Color Magnitude Relation of Early-type Galaxies
  In this letter we present a study of the color magnitude relation of 468
early-type galaxies in the Virgo Cluster with Sloan Digital Sky Survey imaging
data. The analysis of our homogeneous, model-independent data set reveals that,
in all colors (u-g, g-r, g-i, i-z) similarly, giant and dwarf early-type
galaxies follow a continuous color magnitude relation (CMR) that is best
described by an S-shape. The magnitude range and quality of our data allows us
to clearly confirm that the CMR in Virgo is not linear. Additionally, we
analyze the scatter about the CMR and find that it increases in the
intermediate-luminosity regime. Nevertheless, despite this observational
distinction, we conclude from the similarly shaped CMR of semi-analytic model
predictions that dwarfs and giants could be of the same origin.
