Related papers: A New Method for Measuring the Upper End of the IM…
Star formation rates (SFR) larger than 1000 Msun/ yr are observed in extreme star bursts. This leads to the formation of star clusters with masses > 10^6 Msun in which crowding of the pre-stellar cores may lead to a change of the stellar…
Several observational and theoretical studies suggest that the initial mass function (IMF) slope for massive stars in globular clusters (GCs) depends on the initial cloud density and metallicity, such that the IMF becomes increasingly…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is an essential input for many astrophysical studies but only in a few cases it has been determined over the whole cluster mass range, limiting the conclusions about its nature. The 25 Orionis group…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is thought to be bottom-heavy in the cores of the most massive galaxies, with an excess of low mass stars compared to the Milky Way. However, studies of the kinematics of quiescent galaxies at 2<z<5…
We present a new measurement of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) based on ultra-deep, high-resolution photometry of >5,000 stars in the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) galaxy. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced…
(abridged) The case can be made for a rather universal stellar IMF form that can be approximated by a two-part power-law function in the stellar regime. However, there exists a possible hint for a systematic variation with metallicity. A…
Several observational and theoretical indications suggest that the initial mass function (IMF) becomes increasingly top-heavy (i.e., overabundant in high-mass stars with mass $m > 1M_{\odot}$) with decreasing metallicity and increasing gas…
We review recent determinations of the present day and initial mass functions in various components of the Galaxy, disk, spheroid, young and globular clusters. As a general feature, the IMF is well described by a power-law form for $m\ga 1…
This paper revisits the classical Kennicutt method for inferring the stellar initial mass function (IMF) from the integrated light properties of galaxies. The large size, uniform high quality data set from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR4…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) determines the relative number of stars born at a given mass. Despite the tremendous effort to establish a universal IMF, the astronomical literature offers a wealth of diverse evidence for IMF…
In the solar neighborhood, the Initial Mass Function (IMF) follows is canonically described by the Salpeter power-law slope for the high-mass range. The stellar IMF may directly result from a Core Mass Function (CMF) through accretion,…
When a detailed model of a stellar population is unavailable, it is most common to assume that stellar masses are independently and identically distributed according to some distribution: the universal initial mass function (IMF). However,…
The mass of unresolved young star clusters derived from spectro-photometric data may well be off by a factor of 2 or more once the migration of massive stars driven by mass segregation is accounted for. We quantify this effect for a large…
The stellar initial mas function (IMF) has been described as being invariant, bottom heavy or top-heavy in extremely dense star burst conditions. To provide usable observable diagnostic we calculate redshift dependent spectral energy…
We present the results of numerical experiments designed to evaluate the usefulness of near-infrared luminosity functions for constraining the Initial Mass Function (IMF) of young stellar populations. From this numerical modeling, we find…
Young Moving Groups (YMGs) are close (<100pc), coherent collections of young (<100Myr) stars that appear to have formed in the same star-forming molecular cloud. As such we would expect their individual initial mass functions (IMFs) to be…
[abridged] Stars are thought to be formed predominantly in clusters. The clusters are formed following a cluster initial mass function (CMF) similar to the stellar initial mass function (IMF). Both the IMF and the CMF favour low-mass…
As most if not all stars are born in stellar clusters the shape of the mass function of the field stars is not only determined by the initial mass function of stars (IMF) but also by the cluster mass function (CMF). In order to quantify…
Several recent observational studies have concluded that the initial mass function (IMF) of stars varies systematically with galaxy properties such as velocity dispersion. In this paper, we investigate the effect of linking the circular…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) describes how many stars form at which mass. Despite recent observational progress, many fundamental properties of the IMF are still unknown. Specifically the question, whether starbursts are biased…