Related papers: The Salpeter Slope of the IMF Explained
Some ultra-compact dwarf galaxies have large dynamical mass to light (M/L) ratios and also appear to contain an overabundance of LMXB sources, and some Milky Way globular clusters have a low concentration and appear to have a deficit of…
(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…
The observed distribution of IMF shapes can be understood as statistical sampling from a universal IMF and variations that result from stellar-dynamical processes. However, young star clusters appear to have an IMF biased towards low-mass…
We present a combined analysis of the low-mass Initial Mass Function (IMF) for seven star forming regions. We first demonstrate that the ratios of stars to brown dwarfs are consistent with a single underlying IMF. Assuming the underlying…
Theoretical considerations lead to the expectation that stars should not have masses larger than about m_{max*}=60-120Msun, while the observational evidence has been ambiguous. Only very recently has a physical stellar mass limit near…
A survey of results concerning the IMF derived from star counts is presented, including work up to, but not including, that presented in these proceedings. The situation regarding low-mass stars in the field and in clusters, high-mass stars…
Understanding star formation is problematic as it originates in the large scale dynamics of a galaxy but occurs on the small scale of an individual star forming event. This paper presents the first numerical simulations to resolve the star…
We show that one can obtain a good fit to the measured main sequence mass function (MF) of a large sample of Galactic clusters (young and old) with a tapered Salpeter power law distribution function with an exponential truncation. The…
Stars form in clustered environments, but how they form when the available resources are shared is still not well understood. A related question is whether the IMF is in fact universal across galactic environments, a galactic initial mass…
A coalescence model using the observed properties of pre-stellar condensations (PSCs) shows how an initially steep IMF that might be characteristic of primordial cloud fragmentation can change into a Salpeter IMF or shallower IMF in a…
The Stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) characterizes the mass distribution of newly formed stars in various cosmic environments, serving as a fundamental assumption in astrophysical research. Recent findings challenge the prevalent notion…
Recent evidence based independently on spectral line strengths and dynamical modelling point towards a non-universal stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF), probably implying an excess of low-mass stars in elliptical galaxies with a high…
Abridged: We have undertaken a series of hydrodynamical simulations of multiple star formation in small turbulent molecular clouds. Our goal is to determine the sensitivity of the properties of the resulting stars and brown dwarfs to…
Here I discuss recent work on brown dwarfs, massive stars and the IMF in general. The stellar IMF can be well described by an invariant two-part power law in present-day star-formation events within the Local Group of galaxies. It is nearly…
Stars form from dense molecular cores, and the mass function of these cores (the CMF) is often found to be similar to the form of the stellar initial mass function (IMF). This suggests that the form of the IMF is the result of the form of…
Stars do not form continuously distributed over star forming galaxies. They form in star clusters of different masses. This nature of clustered star formation is taken into account in the theory of the integrated galactic stellar initial…
[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…
We derive the expectation value for the maximum stellar mass (m_max) in an ensemble of N stars, as a function of the IMF upper-mass cutoff (m_up) and N. We statistically demonstrate that the upper IMF of the local massive star census…
It is difficult to reconcile the observed evolution of the star formation rate versus stellar mass (SFR-M*) relation with expectations from current hierarchical galaxy formation models. The observed SFR-M* relation shows a rapid rise in…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is expressed by $\phi(m) \propto m^{-\alpha}$ with the slope $\alpha$, and known as the poorly-constrained but very important function in studies of star and galaxy formation. There are no sensible…