Related papers: The Origin of the Arches Stellar Cluster Mass Func…

The Quintuplet and Arches clusters, which were formed in the harsh environment of the Galactic Center (GC) a few million years ago, have been excellent targets for studying the effects of a star-forming environment on the initial mass…

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is a fundamental property of star formation, offering key insight into the physics driving the process as well as informing our understanding of stellar populations, their by-products, and their…

Observations of the stellar initial mass function are reviewed. The flattening at low mass is evidence for a characteristic mass in star formation, which could be the minimum stellar mass for the onset of deuterium burning or the thermal…

We investigate the impact of different initial conditions for the initial density profile and the initial turbulence on the formation process of protostellar clusters. We study the collapse of dense molecula r cloud cores with…

Stars generally form faster than the ambipolar diffusion time, suggesting that several processes short circuit the delay and promote a rapid collapse. These processes are considered here, including turbulence compression in the outer parts…

The ALMA-IMF Large Program imaged a total noncontiguous area of 53pc2, covering 15 extreme, nearby protoclusters of the Milky Way. They were selected to span relevant early protocluster evolutionary stages. Our 1.3mm and 3mm observations…

Observations of the Pipe Nebula have led to the discovery of dense starless cores. The mass of most cores is too small for their self gravity to hold them together. Instead, they are thought to be pressure confined. The observed dense…

The isothermal gravitational collapse and fragmentation of a molecular cloud region and the subsequent formation of a protostellar cluster is investigated numerically. The clump mass spectrum which forms during the fragmentation phase can…

Dense cores, the progenitors of stars, are in sub-pc scale and fragmented from pc-scale clumps. However, it is still unclear that how strongly the fragmentation process is affected by the properties of the host clumps, and how these…

Improving our understanding of the earliest stages of star formation is crucial to gain insight into the origin of stellar masses, multiple systems, and protoplanetary disks. We discuss recent advances made in this area thanks to detailed…

We develop a statistical approach for description of dense structures (cores) in molecular clouds that might be progenitors of stars. Our basic assumptions are a core mass-density relationship and a power-law density distribution of these…

The origin and initial mass function of young stellar clusters near the Galactic center are still poorly understood. Two of the more prominent ones, the Arches and Quintuplet clusters, may have formed from a shock-induced burst of star…

High-mass stars and star clusters form from the fragmentation of massive dense clumps driven by gravity, turbulence, and magnetic fields. The ALMAGAL project observed $\sim1000$ clumps at $\sim$1000\,au resolution, enabling a statistically…

Stars form in dense, dusty clumps of molecular clouds, but little is known about their origin and evolution. In particular, the relationship between the mass distribution of these clumps (also known as the "clump mass function", or CMF) and…

The observed similarities between the mass function of prestellar cores (CMF) and the stellar initial mass function (IMF) have led to the suggestion that the IMF is already largely determined in the gas phase. However, theoretical arguments…

The initial mass function (IMF) is a construct that describes the distribution of stellar masses for a newly formed population of stars. It is a fundamental element underlying all of star and galaxy formation, and has been the subject of…

We review the properties of low mass dense molecular cloud cores, including starless, prestellar, and Class 0 protostellar cores, as derived from observations. In particular we discuss them in the context of the current debate surrounding…

We examine the initial mass functions (IMFs) of stars produced by different molecular core mass functions. Simulations suggest that more massive cores produce more stars, so we propose a model in which the average number of stars formed in…

We investigate the time evolution and spatial variation of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) in star-forming disk galaxies by using chemodynamical simulations with an IMF model depending both on local densities and metallicities…

The mass growth of protostars is a central element to the determination of fundamental stellar population properties such as the initial mass function. Constraining the accretion history of individual protostars is therefore an important…