A minimum hypothesis explanation for an IMF with a lognormal body and power law tail
Astrophysics
2015-11-11 v1
Abstract
We present a minimum hypothesis model for an IMF that resembles a lognormal distribution at low masses but has a distinct power-law tail. Even if the central limit theorem ensures a lognormal distribution of condensation masses at birth, a power-law tail in the distribution arises due to accretion from the ambient cloud, coupled with a non-uniform (exponential) distribution of accretion times.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0411419,
title = {A minimum hypothesis explanation for an IMF with a lognormal body and power law tail},
author = {Shantanu Basu and C. E. Jones},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0411419},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
2 pages, 1 figure, to appear in IMF@50, eds. E. Corbelli, F. Palla, and H. Zinnecker, Kluwer, Astrophysics and Space Science Library