SIMBAD references

A library of 211 echelle spectra taken with ELODIE at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence is presented. It provides a set of spectroscopic standards covering the full range of gravities and metallicities in the effective temperature interval [4000K, 6300K]. The spectra are straightened, wavelength calibrated, cleaned of cosmic ray hits, bad pixels and telluric lines. They cover the spectral range [440nm, 680nm] with an instrumental resolution of 42000. For each star, basic data were compiled from the Hipparcos catalogue and the Hipparcos Input Catalogue. Radial velocities with a precision better than 100m/s are given. Atmospheric parameters (T_eff, logg, [Fe/H]) from the literature are discussed. Because of scattered determinations in the bibliography, even for the most well-known stars, these parameters were adjusted by an iterative process which takes account of common or different spectral features between the standards, using our homogeneous set of spectra. Revised values of effective temperature, gravity and metallicity are proposed. They are still consistent with the literature, and also lead to the self-consistency of the library, in the sense that similar spectra have similar atmospheric parameters. This adjustment was performed by using step by step a method based on the least square comparison of carefully prepared spectra, which was originally developed for the on-line estimation of the atmospheric parameters of faint field stars (companion paper in the main journal).