Related papers: The stellar IMF at very low metallicities
The initial mass function (IMF) is one of the most important functions in astrophysics because it is key to reconstructing the cosmological matter cycle, understanding the formation of super-massive black holes, and deciphering the light…
In the earliest phases of star-forming clouds, stable molecular species, such as CO, are important coolants in the gas phase. Depletion of these molecules on dust surfaces affects the thermal balance of molecular clouds and with that their…
An essential component of galaxy formation theory is the stellar initial mass function (IMF), that describes the parent distribution of stellar mass in star forming regions. We present observational evidence in a sample of early-type…
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 characteristic mass M_c in the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is about constant for most star-forming regions. Numerical simulations consistently show a proportionality between M_c and the thermal Jeans mass M_J at the time of…
We present results from the first cosmological simulations which study the onset of primordial, metal-free (population III), cosmic star formation and the transition to the present-day, metal-rich star formation (population II-I), including…
The tight relation of star formation with molecular gas indicated by observations and assumed in recent models implies that the efficiency with which galaxies convert their gas into stars depends on gas metallicity. This is because the…
Star formation is intimately linked to the dynamical evolution of molecular clouds. Turbulent fragmentation determines where and when protostellar cores form, and how they contract and grow in mass via accretion from the surrounding cloud…
We use a recently-developed analytic model for the ISM structure from scales of GMCs through star-forming cores to explore how the pre-stellar core mass function (CMF) and, by extrapolation, stellar initial mass function (IMF) should depend…
We study the influence of low levels of metal enrichment on the cooling and collapse of ionized gas in small protogalactic halos using three-dimensional, smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations. Our initial conditions represent…
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:…
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…
Cosmological simulations are reaching the resolution necessary to study ultra-faint dwarf galaxies. Observations indicate that in small populations, the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is not fully populated; rather, stars are sampled…
Many questions in physical cosmology regarding the thermal history of the intergalactic medium, chemical enrichment, reionization, etc. are thought to be intimately related to the nature and evolution of pregalactic structure. In particular…
We perform SPH simulations of the collapse and fragmentation of low-mass cores having different initial levels of turbulence (alpha_turb=0.05,0.10,0.25). We use a new treatment of the energy equation which captures the transport of cooling…
The discovery of a low-mass star with such low metallicity as < 4.5x10^{-5} Z_sun reveals the critical role of dust in the formation of extremely metal-poor stars. In this paper we explore the effect of the growth of dust grains through…
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…
Explaining the initial mass function (IMF) of stars is a long-standing problem in astrophysics. The number of complex mechanisms involved in the process of star cluster formation, such as turbulence, magnetic fields and stellar feedback,…
Classical theories for the stellar initial mass function (IMF) predict a peak mass which scales with the properties of the molecular cloud. In this work, we explore a new theory proposed by Lee & Hennebelle (2018). The idea is that the…
In a low-metallicity gas, rapid cooling by dust thermal emission is considered to induce cloud fragmentation and play a vital role in the formation of low-mass stars (<~ 1 M_sun) in metal-poor environments. We investigate how the growth of…