A spectroscopic study of field BHB star candidates

New spectroscopic observations (R=15000 and 40000) are given for 31 nearby (V < 11) BHB star candidates. IUE low-resolution spectra are available for most of them. New determinations of temperature, gravity, reddening and abundances were obtained from these data using models computed by Castelli with an updated version of the ATLAS9 code. A summary of the visual photometry for these stars (including new photometry obtained at Kitt Peak) is also given. All 31 candidates are halo stars. We classify 28 as BHB stars because: (1) They lie close to the ZAHB (in a similar position to globular cluster BHB stars) in the Teff vs. log g plot. (2) Their distribution of vsini (less than 40 km/s) is similar to that found for the BHB stars in globular clusters. (3) Their [Fe/H] lies between -0.99 and -2.95 (mean [Fe/H] -1.67, dispersion 0.42 dex) which is similar to that found for field halo RR Lyrae and red HB stars but more metal- poor than for halo globular clusters. Field BHB stars with Teff greater than 8500 K show the He I (4471 A) line corresponding to solar abundance. (4) They show a similar average enhancement of the alpha-elements ([Mg/Fe] = +0.43 +/- 0.04 and [Ti/Fe] = +0.44 +/- 0.02) to that found for other halo field stars of similar metallicity. Comments are given on a further 25 stars that have previously been suggested to be BHB stars; these were not included in our sample because they did not fulfil one or more of the above criteria.