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We have undertaken the largest systematic study of the high-mass stellar initial mass function (IMF) to date using the optical color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of 85 resolved, young (4 Myr < t < 25 Myr), intermediate mass star clusters…

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is commonly interpreted to be a scale-invariant probability density distribution function (PDF) such that many small clusters yield the same IMF as one massive cluster of the same combined number of…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2023-02-22 Zhiqiang Yan , Tereza Jerabkova , Pavel Kroupa

We present observational evidence of the correlation between the high-mass slope of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) in young star clusters and their stellar surface density, $\sigma_{*}$. When the high-mass end of the IMF is…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2023-11-03 Sami Dib

We derive a semi-empirical galactic initial mass function (IMF) from observational constraints. We assume that the star formation rate in a galaxy can be expressed as the product of the IMF, $\psi (m)$, which is a smooth function of mass…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-05-20 Antonio Parravano , Christopher F. McKee , David J. Hollenbach

We present the new technique for the determination of the low-mass slope of the stellar mass function from the pixel-space fitting of integrated light spectra. This technique is the extension of the NBursts full spectral fitting technique.…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2013-01-25 N. Podorvanyuk , I. Chilingarian , I. Katkov

It is now well-established that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) can be determined from the absorption line spectra of old stellar systems, and this has been used to measure the IMF and its variation across the early-type galaxy…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-03-22 Charlie Conroy , Pieter van Dokkum , Alexa Villaume

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

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…

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) in star clusters is reviewed. Uncertainties in the observations are emphasized. We suggest there is a distinct possibility that cluster IMFs vary systematically with density or pressure. Dense…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 Bruce G. Elmegreen

Because direct measurements require resolved stellar populations including low-mass stars, determining the stellar initial mass function (IMF) has been a historically difficult problem even within our own Galaxy and impossible everywhere…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-03-26 Charles L. Steinhardt , Carter Meyerhoff , Alexander J. Luening

This contribution addresses the question of whether the initial cluster mass function (ICMF) has a fundamental limit (or truncation) at high masses. The shape of the ICMF at high masses can be studied using the most massive young (<10 Myr)…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-04 N. Bastian , I. S. Konstantopoulos , G. Trancho , D. R. Weisz , S. S. Larsen , M. Fouesneau , C. B. Kaschinski , M. Gieles

We present a pilot method to estimate the high-mass initial mass function (IMF) across the arm, interarm, and spur regions in galaxies and apply it to NGC 628. We extracted star-forming complexes (SFCs) from H$\alpha$ VLT/MUSE and UVIT (FUV…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-06-24 S Amrutha , Mousumi Das

The universality or non-universality of the initial mass function (IMF) has significant implications for determining star formation rates and star formation histories from photometric properties of stellar populations. We reexamine whether…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-01-17 R. P. V. Rautio , A. E. Watkins , H. Salo , A. Venhola , J. H. Knapen , S. Comerón

Recent results on the non-universality of the Initial Mass Function (IMF) have shown strong evidence of IMF variations with galaxy velocity dispersion, with a corresponding impact on other stellar population parameters, line indices and…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-12 Anna Ferré-Mateu , Alexandre Vazdekis , Ignacio G. de la Rosa

The stellar initial-mass function (IMF) represents a fundamental quantity in astrophysics and cosmology, describing the mass distribution of stars from low to very-high masses. It is intimately linked to a wide variety of topics, including…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2024-09-17 Francesco Gabrielli , Lumen Boco , Giancarlo Ghirlanda , Om Sharan Salafia , Ruben Salvaterra , Mario Spera , Andrea Lapi

Few topics in astronomy initiate such vigorous discussion as whether or not the initial mass function (IMF) of stars is universal, or instead sensitive to the initial conditions of star formation. The distinction is of critical importance:…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-05-18 Nate Bastian , Kevin R. Covey , Michael R. Meyer

Recent results indicate the stellar initial mass function is not a strong function of star-forming environment or ``initial conditions'' (e.g. Meyer et al. 2000). Some studies suggest that a universal IMF may extend to sub-stellar masses…

Astrophysics · Physics 2015-11-11 M. R. Meyer , J. Greissl , M. Kenworthy , D. McCarthy

We present a thorough literature study of the most-massive star, m_max, in several young star clusters in order to assess whether or not star clusters are populated from the stellar initial mass function (IMF) by random sampling over the…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-14 C. Weidner , P. Kroupa , I. Bonnell

In the star formation process, the vital impact of environmental factors such as feedback from massive stars and stellar density on the form of the initial mass function (IMF) at low-mass end is yet to be understood. Hence a systematic,…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-05-12 Belinda Damian , Jessy Jose , Manash R. Samal , Estelle Moraux , Swagat R. Das , Sudeshna Patra

There is good evidence that the centers of massive early-type galaxies have a bottom-heavy stellar initial mass function (IMF) compared to the IMF of the Milky Way. Here we study the radial variation of the IMF within such galaxies, using a…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-05-31 Pieter van Dokkum , Charlie Conroy , Alexa Villaume , Jean Brodie , Aaron Romanowsky