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Related papers: The Stellar Initial Mass Function in Early-Type Ga…

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The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is a fundamental astrophysical quantity that impacts a wide range of astrophysical problems from heavy element distribution to galactic evolution to planetary system formation. However, the origin and…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2017-01-11 S. S. R. Offner

Many results in modern astrophysics rest on the notion that the Initial Mass Function (IMF) is universal. Our observations of HI selected galaxies in the light of H-alpha and the far-ultraviolet (FUV) challenge this notion. The flux ratio…

I review efforts to determine the form and any lower limit to the initial mass function in the Galactic disk, using observations of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the field, young clusters and star forming regions. I focus on the…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-05 R. D. Jeffries

(shortened) In this contribution an average or Galactic-field IMF is defined, stressing that there is evidence for a change in the power-law index at only two masses: near 0.5 Msun and 0.08 Msun. Using this supposed universal IMF, the…

Astrophysics · Physics 2011-09-29 Pavel Kroupa

This paper aims at understanding if the normalization of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) of massive early-type galaxies (ETGs) varies with cosmic time and/or with mean stellar mass density Sigma (M*/2\pi Re^2). For this purpose we…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-01-14 A. Gargiulo , P. Saracco , M. Longhetti , S. Tamburri , I. Lonoce , F. Ciocca

The observed stellar initial mass function (IMF) appears to vary, becoming bottom-heavy in the centres of the most massive, metal-rich early-type galaxies. It is still unclear what physical processes might cause this IMF variation. In this…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2020-10-07 Timothy A. Davis , Freeke van de Voort

It has been shown recently that the dynamical V-band mass-to-light ratios of compact stellar systems with masses from 10^6 to 10^8 Solar masses are not consistent with the predictions from simple stellar population (SSP) models. Top-heavy…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2010-02-25 J. Dabringhausen , P. Kroupa , H. Baumgardt

We estimate ages, metallicities, $\alpha$-element abundance ratios and stellar initial mass functions of elliptical (E) and S0 galaxies from the MaNGA-DR15 survey. We stack spectra and use a variety of single stellar population synthesis…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2019-10-09 H. Domínguez Sánchez , M. Bernardi , J. R. Brownstein , N. Drory , R. K. Sheth

Although the stellar initial mass function (IMF) has only been directly determined in star clusters it has been manifoldly applied on galaxy-wide scales. But taking the clustered nature of star formation into account the galaxy-wide IMF is…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2009-11-13 J. Pflamm-Altenburg , C. Weidner , P. Kroupa

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) regulates the baryonic cycle within galaxies, and is a key ingredient to translate observations into physical quantities. Although for decades it was assumed to be universal, there is now growing…

JWST observations have revealed that massive galaxies formed and evolved far faster than predicted by galaxy formation models, with many having already assembled a large mass in stars $\sim12$ billion years ago [1-7]. However, masses of…

Recent observations and theories have presented a strong challenge to the universality of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) in extreme environments. A notable example has been found for starburst conditions, where evidence favours a…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-05-10 Ziyi Guo , Zhi-Yu Zhang , Zhiqiang Yan , Eda Gjergo , Allison Man , R. J. Ivison , Xiaoting Fu , Yong Shi

The current status of both the observational evidence and the theory of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is reviewed, with particular attention to the two basic, apparently universal features shown by all observations of nearby…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 Richard B. Larson

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

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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2019-03-26 David Guszejnov , Philip F. Hopkins , Andrew S. Graus

The birth of stars and the formation of galaxies are cornerstones of modern astrophysics. While much is known about how galaxies globally and their stars individually form and evolve, one fundamental property that affects both remains…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2019-02-20 A. M. Hopkins

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

The production rate of ionizing photons in young < 8 Myr, unresolved stellar clusters in the nearby irregular galaxy NGC 4214 is probed using multi-wavelength Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 data. We normalize the ionizing photon rate by the…

The study of young stellar populations has revealed that most stars are in binary or higher order multiple systems. In this study the influence on the stellar initial mass function (IMF) of large quantities of unresolved multiple massive…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-13 C. Weidner , P. Kroupa , T. Maschberger

We present the velocity dispersion measurements of four massive $\sim10^{11}M_\odot$ quiescent galaxies at $3.2 < z < 3.7$ based on deep H and K$-$band spectra using the Keck/MOSFIRE near-infrared spectrograph. We find high velocity…