Related papers: The Stellar Initial Mass Function in 2007: A Year …

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) seems to be variable and not universal, as argued in the literature in the last three decades. Several relations among the low-mass end of the IMF slope and other stellar population, photometric or…

The origin of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is a fundamental issue in the theory of star formation. It is generally fit with a composite power law. Some clues on the progenitors can be found in dense starless cores that have a…

The stellar initial mass function (IMF), which is often assumed to be universal across unresolved stellar populations, has recently been suggested to be "bottom-heavy" for massive ellipticals. In these galaxies, the prevalence of…

Stellar chemical element ratios have well-defined systematic trends as a function of abundance, with an excellent correlation of these trends with stellar populations defined kinematically. This is remarkable, and has significant…

Recent observational and theoretical studies indicate that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) varies systematically with the environment (star formation rate - SFR, metallicity). Although the exact dependence of the IMF on those…

In this paper, the first in a series on galaxy formation before reionization, we focus on understanding what determines the size and morphology of stellar objects in the first low mass galaxies, using parsec- scale cosmological simulations…

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) and the fraction of binary systems are fundamental ingredients that govern the formation and evolution of galaxies. Whether the IMF is universal or varies with environment remains one of the central…

This contribution describes the difficult task of inferring the IMF from local star-count data, by discussing the mass-luminosity relation, unresolved binary, triple and quadruple systems, abundance and age spreads and Galactic structure,…

From time to time, and quite more frequently in recent years, claims appear favoring a variable Initial Mass Function (IMF), one way or another, either in time or space. In this chapter we add our two pennies of wisdom, illustrating how the…

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is among the most fundamental distributions in astrophysics, defined as the mass spectrum of stars produced in a single star-formation event. Even in the solar neighbourhood, where measurements can be…

Context. Stars form in dense, dusty clumps of molecular clouds, but little is known about their origin, their evolution and their detailed physical properties. In particular, the relationship between the mass distribution of these clumps…

We review current theories for the origin of the Stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) with particular focus on the extent to which the IMF can be considered universal across various environments. To place the issue in an observational…

Star-forming regions presenting a density gradient experience a higher star formation rate than if they were of uniform density. We refer to the ratio between the star formation rate of a spherical centrally-concentrated gas clump and the…

This is a brief review of our understanding of the properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) in dwarf galaxies in connection to their star formation activity. What are the dominant phases of the ISM in these objects? How do the properties…

Observations indicate that the central portions of the Present-Day Prestellar Core Mass Function (CMF) and the Stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) both have approximately log-normal shapes, but that the CMF is displaced to higher mass than…

We examine the cosmic evolution of a stellar initial mass function (IMF) in galaxies that varies with the Jeans mass in the interstellar medium, paying particular attention to the K-band stellar mass to light ratio (M/L_K) of present-epoch…

One of the most robust observations of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is its near-universality in the Milky Way and neighboring galaxies. But recent observations of early-type galaxies can be interpreted to imply a bottom-heavy…

The combination of a finite time-scale for star formation, rapid early stellar evolution and rapid stellar-dynamical processes imply that the stellar IMF cannot be inferred for any star cluster independently of its age (the Cluster IMF…

We present a new implementation of star formation in cosmological simulations, by considering star clusters as a unit of star formation. Cluster particles grow in mass over several million years at the rate determined by local gas…

The mass function (MF) of young ($\mathrm{age\lesssim 200}$ Myr) stellar clumps is an indicator of the mechanism driving the collapse of the interstellar medium (ISM) into giant molecular clouds. Typically, the clump MF in main-sequence…