UVBLUE: a new high-resolution theoretical library of ultraviolet stellar spectra

Abstract

We present an extended ultraviolet-blue (850-4700 AA) library of theoretical stellar spectral energy distributions (SEDs) computed at high resolution, R= 50,000. The UVBLUE grid, as we named the library, is based on LTE calculations carried out with ATLAS9 and SYNTHE codes developed by R. L. Kurucz and consists of nearly 1800 entries that cover a large volume of the parameter space. It spans a range in effective temperature from 3000 to 50,000 K, the surface gravity ranges from log g= 0.0 to 5.0 with a step of 0.5 dex, while seven chemical compositions are considered: [Fe/H]= -2.0, -1.5, -1.0, -0.5, +0.0, +0.3 and +0.5 dex. For its coverage across the H-R diagram, this library is the most comprehensive one ever computed at high resolution in the short-wavelength spectral range, and useful application can be foreseen both for the study of single stars and in population synthesis models of galaxies and other stellar systems.