Evolutionary tracks and isochrones for alpha-enhanced stars

Abstract

We present four large sets of evolutionary tracks for stars with initial chemical compositions [Y=0.250, Z=0.008], [Y=0.273, Z=0.019], [Y=0.320, Z=0.040] and [Y=0.390, Z=0.070] and enhancement of alpha elements with respect to the solar pattern. The major improvement with respect to previous similar calculations is that we use consistent opacities - i.e. computed with the same chemical composition as adopted in the stellar models - over the whole relevant range of temperatures. For the same initial chemical compositions [Y,Z] and otherwise identical input physics we present also new evolutionary sequences with solar-scaled mixtures of abundances. Based on these stellar models we calculate the corresponding sets of isochrones both in the Johnson-Cousins UBVRIJHK and HST/WFPC2 photometric systems. Furthermore, we derive integrated magnitudes, colours and mass-to-light ratios for ideal single stellar populations with total mass equal to 1 Msun. Finally, the major changes in the tracks, isochrones, and integrated magnitudes and colours passing from solar-scaled to alpha-enhanced mixtures are briefly outlined. Retrieval of the complete data set is possible via http://pleiadi.pd.astro.it .