# Synthetic spectra of H Balmer and HeI absorption lines. I: Stellar Library

## 1 Introduction

The dominant characteristics of the optical spectrum of starburst galaxies are its nebular emission lines. These lines are formed in the surrounding interstellar medium of the starburst that is photoionized by photons emitted by stars with mass higher than 10 M$``$. These massive stars dominate the ultraviolet and contribute significantly to the optical continuum, that comes mainly from A, B and O stars. The most conspicuous features of the spectra of these early stars are their strong hydrogen Balmer and neutral helium absorption lines. In the spectrum of a starburst, the nebular emission lines are superimposed on the stellar absorption lines, and usually emission dominates over absorption. However, the contribution of the underlying absorption becomes increasingly important for higher terms of the Balmer series (H$`\gamma `$, H$`\delta `$,…) and some of the HeI lines ($`\lambda `$ 4471, 4387, 4026, …). Very often, the effect of the stellar population is also seen as absorption wings in the H$`\beta `$, H$`\gamma `$ and H$`\delta `$ lines. The observation of these lines with high spectral resolution makes it possible to estimate the contribution of the underlying absorption. On the other hand, the analysis of the profiles high-order of the Balmer series, which are dominated by absorption instead of emission, can yield information on the properties of the stellar content of the starbursts and on their evolutionary stage. Therefore, high-resolution absorption profiles of the high-term Balmer and He I lines covering a wide range in effective temperature and gravity are needed to predict the composite stellar spectra of starburst galaxies.

Observational and synthetic stellar spectra are available in the literature. However, the observational atlases have only intermediate or low spectral resolution (Burstein et al. 1984; Jacoby, Hunter & Christian 1984; Walborn & Fitzpatrick 1990; Cananzi, Augarde, & Lequeux 1993) and the synthetic stellar libraries do not cover the high-order Balmer series and HeI lines (Auer & Mihalas 1972; Kurucz 1979, 1993). For these reasons, a grid of stellar atmospheres and synthetic spectra in the wavelength range from 3700 to 5000 Å with a sampling of 0.3 Å and covering 50000 to 4000 K has been computed using the code of Hubeny (1988). In this paper, we present the grid of synthetic profiles, which are compared with observations and synthetic profiles computed by Auer & Mihalas (1972) and Kurucz (1993). In a companion paper (González Delgado, Leitherer & Heckman 1999; hereafter paper II), evolutionary synthesis profiles of H and He absorption lines for star forming regions are presented.

## 2 Stellar library

### 2.1 The Grid

The grid includes the synthetic stellar spectra of the most relevant H and He I lines from 3700 to 5000 Å, in five different wavelength ranges (Table 1). H$`ϵ`$ is not synthesized because it is coincident with the CaII H line, and this line shows a very strong interstellar component in individual stars and in the integrated spectrum of a galaxy. HeII lines, He I $`\lambda `$5876, HeI $`\lambda `$6678 and H$`\alpha `$ are not synthesized because in hot stars the profiles of these lines are affected by stellar winds (Gabler et al. 1989; Herrero et al. 1992; Bianchi et al. 1994). However, HeI at wavelengths shorter than 5000 Å, H$`\beta `$ and the higher order-terms of the Balmer series are only partially (mainly the core of the line but not the wings) or not at all affected by sphericity and winds (Gabler et al. 1989). The spectra span a range of effective temperature from 4000 to 50000 K, with a variable step from 500 K to 5000 K, and a surface gravity log$`g`$=0.0 to 5.0 with a step of 0.5 (Table 2). The metallicity is solar.

The spectra are generated in three different stages with a set of computer programs developed by Hubeny and collaborators (Hubeny 1988; Hubeny & Lanz 1995a; Hubeny, Lanz, & Jeffery 1995). First, the stellar atmosphere is calculated; then, the stellar spectrum is synthesized, and finally the instrumental and rotational convolution are performed.

### 2.2 The model atmospheres of the grid

To generate a synthetic stellar spectrum, a model atmosphere is needed. For $`T_{eff}`$25000 K, the atmosphere is produced using version 193 of the program TLUSTY (Hubeny 1988; Hubeny & Lanz 1995a,b); for $`T_{eff}`$25000 K we use a Kurucz (1993) LTE atmosphere. TLUSTY calculates a plane-parallel, horizontally homogeneous model stellar atmosphere in radiative and hydrostatic equilibrium. The program allows departures from local thermodynamic equilibrium and metal line blanketing, using the hybrid complete linearization and accelerated lambda iteration (CL/ALI) method.

To reduce computational time, non-blanketed non-LTE (NLTE) models are computed with TLUSTY. H and He are considered explicitly. The population of their levels (9 atomic energy levels of HI, 14 levels of HeI and 14 levels of HeII are considered) are determined by solving the corresponding statistical equilibrium equations. 25 additional atoms and ions contribute to the total number of particles and to the total charge, but not to the opacity.

The NLTE models are computed in three stages. First, an LTE-gray atmosphere is generated. Here, the opacity is independent of wavelength, and the populations of the energy levels are calculated assuming the local value of the temperature and electron density. This model is used as a starting approximation for the LTE model. Finally, the NLTE model is computed, where the gas and the radiation are coupled. Here, departures from LTE are allowed for 39 energy levels. Convection is suppressed in all the models. A depth-independent turbulence velocity of 2 km s<sup>-1</sup> is assumed. Doppler broadening is assumed for all the line transitions. The properties of the atmosphere are calculated at 54 depth points.

We use Kurucz (1993) LTE atmospheres for $`T_{eff}`$25000 K because for stars cooler than B1, NLTE effects are not very important, These models are line blanketed, and we take the models with a turbulence velocity of 2 km s<sup>-1</sup> and solar metallicity.

### 2.3 The synthetic profiles

The synthetic spectra are computed with the program SYNSPEC (Hubeny, Lanz, & Jeffery 1995). This program reads the input model atmosphere, either calculated by TLUSTY or from the Kurucz models, and solves the radiative transfer equation, wavelength by wavelength in a specified spectral range. The program also uses an input line list that contains the transitions in the six specified wavelength ranges that we synthesize here. The line list has a format similar to the Kurucz & Peytremann (1975) tables.

The continuum opacity is calculated exactly the same way as it was done in the atmosphere model. For $`T_{eff}`$ 25000 K, only continuum opacities from the atomic energy levels of H and He are considered. The opacity sources are: 1) photoionizations from all the explicit levels (39 levels in TLUSTY models); 2) free-free opacity for all the explicit ions (HI, HeI and HeII in TLUSTY models and H, Mg, Al, Si and Fe in the Kurucz models); 3) electron scattering. The line opacity is calculated from the line list. Although the structure of the atmosphere (for $`T_{eff}`$ 25000 K) is calculated with only H and He, the synthetic spectra are calculated assuming line blanketing from elements with atomic number Z$``$28. The atoms and transitions that were treated in NLTE in the atmosphere models are also treated in NLTE by SYNSPEC. For those lines that originate between levels for which the population is calculated in LTE, SYNSPEC uses an approximate NLTE, based on the second-order escape probability theory (Hubeny et al. 1986).

The line profiles have the form of a Voigt function and take into account the effect of natural, Stark, Van der Waals and thermal Doppler broadening. The broadening parameters for H and He are those tabulated by Vidal, Cooper, & Smith (1973) for the first four members of the Balmer series, and up to H10 by Butler (private communication). For HeI, the line broadening tables for $`\lambda `$4471 are from Barnard, Cooper, & Smith (1974) and those for $`\lambda `$4026, 4387, 4922 are from Shamey (1969). The maximum distance of two neighboring frequency points for evaluating the spectrum is 0.01 Å. A turbulence velocity of 2 km s<sup>-1</sup> is assumed.

Finally, the program ROTIN performs the rotational and instrumental convolution. A FWHM instrumental profile of 0.01 Å and a rotational velocity of 100 km s<sup>-1</sup> are assumed which is the typical rotational velocities in massive stars (Conti & Ebbets, 1977). The final sampling of the spectra is 0.3 Å.

## 3 Results

The synthetic spectra of the grid are available for retrieval at http://www.iaa.es/ae/e2.html and http://www.stsci.edu/science/starburst/. Figure 1 compares the spectra for $`T_{eff}`$=25000 K and log$`g`$= 4.0 computed with TLUSTY+SYNSPEC assuming NLTE with those computed with SYNSPEC and Kurucz LTE atmospheres. The two spectra are essentially identical; this justifies the use of LTE stellar atmosphere models for $`T_{eff}`$25000 K. Figure 2 shows the spectra of a typical O ($`T_{eff}`$=40000 K, log$`g`$=4.0), B ($`T_{eff}`$=20000 K, log$`g`$=4.0) and A ($`T_{eff}`$=10000 K, log$`g`$=4.0) star. The most important lines in the spectrum are labelled. The equivalent width of the most important H and HeI lines have been measured in the synthetic spectra. Several measurements were done with different spectral windows. This allows a calibration of the contribution of weaker lines to the spectral index that characterizes each of the Balmer lines. The spectral index was measured from the continuum equal to 1 (this represents the real equivalent width of the lines), but also from a pseudo-continuum that was determined by fitting a first order polynomial (except for the spectral range 3700-3900 Å, for which we used a third order) to the windows defined in Table 3. This spectral index simulates the equivalent width we can measure in observed stellar spectra. Tables 4 to 7 show the equivalent widths of H$`\delta `$, H8, HeI $`\lambda `$4471 and HeI $`\lambda `$3819, respectively.

Figure 3 shows the equivalent widths of H$`\beta `$, H$`\delta `$ and two of the high-order terms of the Balmer series (H8 and H9) as a function of $`T_{eff}`$ for main sequence stars (log$`g`$= 4.0). The maximum equivalent width occurs at $``$9000 K, corresponding to an early-type A star. The plot indicates that the high-order Balmer series lines show, like the lower terms, a strong dependence on $`T_{eff}`$ and on gravity (Figure 4); thus, they are an efficient tool for the determination of the fundamental stellar parameters. Figure 5 shows the equivalent width of the HeI lines as a function of $`T_{eff}`$ for main sequence stars (log$`g`$= 4.0) (see also Tables 6 and 7 for HeI $`\lambda `$4471 and HeI $`\lambda `$3819, respectively). They also show a strong dependence on $`T_{eff}`$ and gravity (Figure 6). The maximum is at $``$20000 K, corresponding to an early-type B star. The increase of the equivalent width at $`T_{eff}`$10000 K is not due to HeI absorption, but to the contribution of some metal lines (FeII $`\lambda `$4385, FeI $`\lambda `$4920, FeII $`\lambda `$4924) which fall in the windows where the equivalent width is measured.

## 4 Test of the profiles

In this section the synthetic profiles of some of the H and HeI lines are compared to the Auer & Mihalas (1972) and Kurucz (1993) profiles. They are also compared with observations. The goal is to test the advantages and limitations of our grid with respect to previous work.

### 4.1 Comparison to Auer-Mihalas models

Auer & Mihalas (1972) computed non-blanketed NLTE profiles of H (P$`\alpha `$, H$`\alpha `$, H$`\beta `$, H$`\gamma `$ and L$`\alpha `$) and HeI ($`\lambda `$4026, 4387, 4471 and 4922) for $`T_{eff}`$ from 30000 to 50000 K, and log$`g`$=3.3 to 4.5. Figure 7 compares the profiles of H$`\gamma `$ for $`T_{eff}`$=30000 and 40000 and log$`g`$=4.0 with the spectra of the grid. The profiles are very similar, the small discrepancy comes from the effect of rotation (we assume a rotation of 100 km s<sup>-1</sup> and none in the Auer-Mihalas models) and the inclusion of atomic transitions in the spectral range we have synthesized. The contribution of these lines makes the profile of H$`\gamma `$ asymmetric in our spectra but not in the Auer-Mihalas profiles. This represents an improvement of our synthetic profiles over those of Auer & Mihalas because our grid is more similar to the observed spectra of stars (see for example Walborn & Fitzpatrick 1990).

Figure 8 shows the profile of HeI $`\lambda `$4471 for $`T_{eff}`$=40000 K and log$`g`$=4.0. The apparent disagreement comes from the effect of the rotational convolution performed in the grid. In fact, the difference between the profiles disappears when the comparison is done between non-convolved profiles. The effect of the rotational convolution is more drastic in the profile of the HeI lines than in the Balmer lines because HeI lines are weaker and narrower than Balmer lines.

### 4.2 Comparison to Kurucz models.

For $`T_{eff}`$ 25000 K, the grid has been generated using the stellar atmosphere structure calculated by Kurucz (1993). Kurucz also synthesizes the profiles of H$`\alpha `$, H$`\beta `$, H$`\gamma `$ and H$`\delta `$. However, the synthesis does not include the atomic transitions that fall within $`\pm `$100 Å of the center of the Balmer lines. Figure 9 compares the profiles of our grid with those of Kurucz (1993). They are very similar, the apparent disagreement at $`T_{eff}`$ 7000 K is due to the effect of the rotational convolution and the inclusion of metallic lines in the spectral ranges synthetized here. However, note that the profile of the Balmer lines before performing the rotation is equal to the profile synthesized by Kurucz.

Our synthetic spectra assume fewer sources of continuum and line opacity than the Kurucz stellar atmosphere. This inconsistency leads to differences between the continuum calculated by TLUSTY+SYNSPEC and the low resolution spectra generated by Kurucz. However, the difference is less than 8$`\%`$ in the whole spectral range synthesized here if $`T_{eff}`$ 7000 K. For lower effective temperature, the deviation is more important since the shape of the continuum also changes. However, the normalized profiles of the Balmer lines of our grid and Kurucz (1993) are the same for all effective temperatures ($`T_{eff}`$ 25000 K). Thus, we can confidently use the normalized profiles of the grid in our evolutionary synthesis code, where these profiles are calibrated in absolute flux.

### 4.3 Comparison to observations

Figure 10 compares the synthetic profiles from 3700 to 3900 Å with the spectra of observed stars from the stellar library of Jacoby, Hunter, & Christian (1984). The observed spectra are normalized assuming a pseudo-continuum that was defined by fitting a third order polynomial to the windows defined in Table 3. The synthetic spectra are binned to the resolution of the observations ($``$4 Å). There is good agreement between the synthetic and observed profiles. The discrepancy between the observations of the O5V star and synthetic profiles at $`\lambda `$3760 Å is probably due to uncertainties in the wavelength and flux calibration of the data.

We have also compared the synthetic spectra with two stars observed by one of us for a different project. The stars HD24760 and HD31295 are classified as B0.5V and A0V, respectively. They were observed with the 2.5m Isaac Newton Telescope at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory using the 500 mm camera of the Intermediate Dispersion Spectrograph and a TEK CCD detector. The dispersion is 0.4 Å/pix. Figures 11 and 12 compare the observed normalized spectra with the synthetic profiles with effective temperature of 27500 K and 9500 K, respectively. In both cases, the gravity is log$`g`$=4.0. The agreement between observations and synthetic spectra is very good, even if an optimization of the fit was not attempted; we have only taken the spectra of our grid with values of the $`T_{eff}`$ and gravity closer to the characteristic values of B0.5V and A0V stars.

### 4.4 Effect of the metallicity

Opacities play an important role in determing the properties of the structure of the atmosphere. Balmer lines, however, are not very much affected by the abundance of elements heavier than H and He if the temperature is higher than 7000 K. The comparison of the Balmer profiles synthesized by Kurucz (1993) for metallicity between Z$``$ and Z$``$/10 shows that the profiles are essentially the same in this range of metallicity if $`T_{eff}`$7000 K. Thus, we can use our normalized spectra to predict the synthetic spectra of a stellar population younger than 1 Gyr if the metallicity is higher than Z$``$/10.

## 5 Summary

We have computed a grid of stellar atmosphere models and synthetic spectra covering five spectral ranges between 3700 and 5000 Å that include the profiles of the Balmer (H13, H12, H11, H10, H9, H8, H$`\delta `$, H$`\gamma `$ and H$`\beta `$) and HeI ($`\lambda `$3819, $`\lambda `$4009, $`\lambda `$4026, $`\lambda `$4120, $`\lambda `$4144, $`\lambda `$4387, $`\lambda `$4471, and $`\lambda `$4922) lines with a sampling of 0.3 Å. The grid spans a range of effective temperature 50000 K$`T_{eff}`$4000 K, and gravity 0.0$``$log$`g`$5.0 at solar metallicity.

The spectra are generated using a set of computer programs developed by Hubeny et al. (1995a,b). The profiles are generated in three stages. First, for $`T_{eff}`$25000 K, we use the TLUSTY code (Hubeny 1988) to compute NLTE stellar atmosphere models. We assume 9 energy levels of HI, 14 levels of HeI and 14 levels of HeII explicitly in NLTE. For $`T_{eff}`$25000 K, we take the Kurucz (1993) LTE atmospheres. In the second stage, the synthetic spectra are produced with the program SYNSPEC (Hubeny et al. 1995b) that solves the radiative transfer equation using as input the model atmosphere and a line list that contains information about atomic transitions in the relevant spectral wavelength ranges. Although the NLTE models generated with TLUSTY are pure H and He stellar atmospheres, SYNSPEC assumes line blanketing for elements heavier than H and He.

Our grid of synthetic spectra has limitations due to the inconsistencies between the continuum and line opacities assumed in the stellar atmosphere and those assumed in calculating the transfer of the lines, which start to be important for $`T_{eff}`$7000 K. However, they reproduce very accurate the Balmer lines generated by Kurucz (1993) even at $``$7000 K. The profiles of the HeI lines are also very similar to those generated by Auer & Mihalas (1972) for $`T_{eff}`$ between 30000 and 50000 K.

This work was motivated by the importance of the HeI and the high-order Balmer lines in the study of the stellar population of galaxies with active star formation. These galaxies show Balmer and He lines in emission produced in their HII regions that are super-imposed on the stellar absorption lines. However, the equivalent width of the nebular lines decreases quickly with decreasing wavelength, whereas the equivalent width of the stellar absorption lines is constant with wavelength (e.g. the equivalent width of H8 ranges between 2 and 12 Å and H$`\beta `$ between 2.5 and 14 Å). Thus, the high-order Balmer series members are less contaminated by emission, and they can be very useful to study the underlying stellar population in starburst galaxies. The evolutionary synthesis profiles of H and He absorption lines for starbursts and post-starbursts are presented in paper II. The full set of the resulting models is available at our websites http://www.iaa.es/ae/e2.html and http://www.stsci.edu/science/starburst/, or on request from the authors at rosa@iaa.es.

Acknowledgments

We thank Ivan Hubeny for his help during the initial phase of this project and for making his code available to the community, and to Enrique Pérez, Tim Heckman and Angeles Díaz for their helpful suggestions and comments. The spectra of some observed stars come from data of an ongoing project to build an observational library of stellar spectra in collaboration with Angeles Díaz, Pepe Vílchez and Enrique Pérez. This work was supported by the Spanish DGICYT grant PB93-0139.