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Related papers: Extragalactic Constraints on the Initial Mass Func…

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We explore the stellar initial mass function (IMF) of a sample of 49 massive quiescent galaxies (MQGs) at 0.9$<$z$<$1.5. We base our analysis on intermediate resolution spectro-photometric data in the GOODS-N field taken in the…

In the last decade, growing evidence has emerged supporting a non-universal stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) in massive galaxies, with a larger number of dwarf stars with respect to the Milky-Way (bottom-heavy IMF). However, a consensus…

The low-mass end of the stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) is constrained by focusing on the baryon-dominated central regions of strong lensing galaxies. We study in this letter the Einstein Cross (Q2237+0305), a z=0.04 barred galaxy whose…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-19 Ignacio Ferreras , Prasenjit Saha , Dominik Leier , Frederic Courbin , Emilio E. Falco

In this paper, we test the discrepancy between the stellar mass density and instantaneous star formation rate in redshift range $0<z<8$ using a large observational data sample. We first compile the measurements of the stellar mass densities…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2016-04-13 H. Yu , F. Y. Wang

Research on the high-mass end of the initial mass function (IMF) has been limited due to a scarcity of samples. Recently, Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), as the most efficient spectroscopic telescope, has…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-05-21 Qida Li , Jianping Xiong , Zhenwei Li , Dan Qiu , Chao Liu , Zhanwen Han , Xuefei Chen

Evidence from different probes of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) of massive early-type galaxies (ETGs) has repeatedly converged on IMFs more bottom-heavy than in the Milky Way (MW). This consensus has come under scrutiny due to…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2023-09-29 Kianusch Mehrgan , Jens Thomas , Roberto Saglia , Taniya Parikh , Bianca Neureiter , Peter Erwin , Ralf Bender

Banerji et al. (2009) suggested that top-heavy stellar Initial Mass Functions (IMFs) in galaxies may arise when the interstellar physical conditions inhibit low-mass star formation, and they determined the physical conditions under which…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2010-03-23 Manda Banerji , Serena Viti , David A. Williams

Observations of both galaxies in the distant Universe and local starbursts are showing increasing evidence for very hard ionizing spectra that stellar population synthesis models struggle to reproduce. Here we explore the effects of the…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2019-01-23 E. R. Stanway , J. J. Eldridge

The long-standing assumption that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is universal has recently been challenged by a number of observations. Several studies have shown that a "heavy" IMF (e.g., with a Salpeter-like abundance of low mass…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-17 Brendon J. Brewer , Philip J. Marshall , Matthew W. Auger , Tommaso Treu , Aaron A. Dutton , Matteo Barnabè

Observations have not yielded convincing results concerning the form of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) or its variations in space and time, so it is proposed that theoretical models may provide useful guidance. Several classes of…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-09-25 John Scalo

The observed rest-UV luminosity function at cosmic dawn ($z \sim 8-14$) measured by JWST revealed an excess of UV-luminous galaxies relative to many pre-launch theoretical predictions. A high star-formation efficiency (SFE) and a top-heavy…

Chemical and photometric models of elliptical galaxies with infall of primordial gas, and subsequent ejection of processed material via galactic winds, are described. Ensuring that these models are consistent with the present-day…

Astrophysics · Physics 2016-01-13 Brad K. Gibson , Francesca Matteucci

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) integrated over an entire galaxy is an integral over all separate star-formation events. Since most stars form in star clusters with different masses the integrated IMF becomes an integral of the…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 C. Weidner , P. Kroupa

Mass measurements and absorption line studies indicate that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is bottom-heavy in the central regions of many early-type galaxies, with an excess of low mass stars compared to the IMF of the Milky Way.…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-12-22 Pieter van Dokkum , Charlie Conroy

We have used a suite of simplified spectrophotometric spiral galaxy evolution models to argue that there are substantial variations in stellar mass-to-light ratios (M/Ls) within and among galaxies, amounting to factors of between 3 and 7 in…

Astrophysics · Physics 2011-05-05 Eric F. Bell , Roelof S. de Jong

Over the past years observations of young and populous star clusters have shown that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) can be conveniently described by a two-part power-law with an exponent alpha_2 = 2.3 for stars more massive than…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2010-11-10 Carsten Weidner , Jan Pflamm-Altenburg , Pavel Kroupa

A wealth of observations recently challenged the notion of a universal stellar initial mass function (IMF) by showing evidences in favour of a variability of this statistical indicator as a function of galaxy properties. I present…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2020-06-17 Fabio Fontanot

In this paper, we present a new derivation of the shape and evolution of the integrated galaxy-wide initial mass function (IGIMF), incorporating explicitly the effects of cosmic rays (CRs) as regulators of the chemical and thermal state of…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2018-07-18 Fabio Fontanot , Francesco La Barbera , Gabriella De Lucia , Anna Pasquali , Alexandre Vazdekis

Fifty years after Ed Salpeter's seminal paper, tremendous progress both on the observational and theoretical sides allow a fairly accurate determination of the Galactic IMF not only down to the hydrogen-burning limit but into the brown…

Astrophysics · Physics 2015-11-11 Gilles Chabrier

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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-04-15 Yu-Ting Wang , Chao Liu , Jiadong Li