A library of high resolution synthetic stellar spectra from 300 nm to 1.8 m with solar and α-enhanced composition

¹ Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão 1226, São Paulo 05508-900, Brazil e-mail: pcoelho@usp.br;barbuy@astro.iag.usp.br
² Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 1, 85741 Garching, Germany e-mail: pcoelho@mpa-garching.mpg.de
³ Department of Astronomy, Caltech, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA e-mail: jorge@astro.caltech.edu
⁴ Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, PO Box 3818, Charlottesville, VA 22903-0818, USA e-mail: ripisc@virginia.edu
⁵ Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica / MCT, CP 21, 37500-000 Itajubá, Brazil e-mail: bruno@lna.br

Received: 25 May 2005
Accepted: 21 July 2005

Abstract

Libraries of stellar spectra are fundamental tools for the study of stellar populations, and both empirical and synthetic libraries have been used for this purpose. In this paper, a new library of high resolution synthetic spectra is presented, ranging from the near-ultraviolet (300 nm) to the near-infrared (1.8 m). The library spans all the stellar types that are relevant to the integrated light of old and intermediate-age stellar populations in the involved spectral region (spectral types F through M and all luminosity classes). The grid was computed for metallicities ranging from [Fe/H] = –2.5 to +0.5, including both solar and α-enhanced ([ α/Fe] = 0.4) chemical compositions. The synthetic spectra are a good match to observations of stars throughout the stellar parameter space encompassed by the library and over the whole spectral region covered by the computations.