A Large Stellar Evolution Database for Population Synthesis Studies. I. Scaled Solar Models and Isochrones

We present a large and updated stellar evolution database for low-, intermediate- and high-mass stars in a wide metallicity range, suitable for studying Galactic and extragalactic simple and composite stellar populations using population synthesis techniques. The stellar mass range is between \\sim0.5Mo and 10Mo with a fine mass spacing. The metallicity [Fe/H] comprises 10 values ranging from -2.27 to 0.40, with a scaled solar metal distribution. The initial He mass fraction ranges from Y=0.245, for the more metal-poor composition, up to 0.303 for the more metal-rich one, with Delta Y/Delta Z\\sim 1.4. For each adopted chemical composition, the evolutionary models have been computed without and with…