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Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. We present results from an optical–infrared photometric study of early–type (E+S0) galaxies in 19 galaxy clusters out to z = 0.9. The galaxy sample is selected on the basis of morphologies determined from HST WFPC2 images, and is photometrically defined in the K–band in order to minimize redshift–dependent selection biases. Using new ground–based photometry in five optical and infrared bands for each cluster, we examine the evolution of the color–magnitude relation for early–type cluster galaxies, considering its slope, intercept, and color scatter around the mean relation. New multiwavelength photometry of galaxies in the Coma cluster is used to provide a baseline sample at z ≈ 0 with which to compare the distant clusters. The optical–IR colors 1 Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the data archive and at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities
Stanford et al. (Sat,) studied this question.