Related papers: Evidence for Two Distinct Stellar Initial Mass Fun…
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…
We perform a direct comparison of two state-of-the art single stellar population (SSP) models that have been used to demonstrate the non-universality of the low-mass end of the Initial Mass Function (IMF) slope. The two public versions of…
In this letter we describe how we use stellar dynamics information to constrain the shape of the stellar IMF in a sample of 27 early-type galaxies from the CALIFA survey. We obtain dynamical and stellar mass-to-light ratios,…
Context: The shape of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) of a star cluster near its upper mass limit is a focal topic of investigation as it determines the high mass stellar content and hence the dynamics of the cluster at its embedded…
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 abundance of brown dwarfs (BDs) in young clusters is a diagnostic of star formation theory. Here we revisit the issue of determining the substellar initial mass function (IMF), based on a comparison between NGC1333 and IC348, two…
Observations of normal galactic star-forming regions suggest there is widespread near-uniformity in the initial stellar mass function (IMF) in spite of diverse physical conditions. Fluctuations may come largely from statistical effects and…
We present constraints on the stellar initial mass function (IMF) in two ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies, Hercules and Leo IV, based on deep HST/ACS imaging. The Hercules and Leo IV galaxies are extremely low luminosity (M_V = -6.2, -5.5),…
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…
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…
In the last decade, growing evidence has emerged supporting a non-universal stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) in massive galaxies, with a larger number of dwarf stars with respect to the Milky-Way (bottom-heavy IMF). However, a consensus…
The distribution of core radii of rich clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) systematically increases in both upper limit and spread with increasing cluster age. Cluster-to-cluster variations in the stellar initial mass function…
We determine an absolute calibration of stellar mass-to-light ratios for the densest \simeq 3% of early-type galaxies in the local universe (redshift z\simeq 0.08) from SDSS DR7. This sample of \sim 4000 galaxies has, assuming a Chabrier…
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…
The stellar masses, mean ages, metallicities, and star formation histories of galaxies are now commonly estimated via stellar population synthesis (SPS) techniques. SPS relies on stellar evolution calculations from the main sequence to…
Three component models of the IMF are made to consider possible origins for the observed relative variations in the numbers of brown dwarfs, solar-to-intermediate mass stars, and high mass stars. Three distinct physical processes are noted.…
The evolution of galaxies is imprinted in their stellar populations. Several stellar population properties in massive early-type galaxies have been shown to correlate with intrinsic galaxy properties like the galaxy's central velocity…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is a fundamental property in the measurement of stellar masses and galaxy star formation histories. In this work we focus on the most massive galaxies in the nearby universe…
In this paper, using 2MASS photometry, we study the mass functions $\phi(M) = dN/dM \propto M^{-\alpha}$ of a sample of nine clusters of ages varying from 4 Myr--1.2 Gyr and Galactocentric distances from 6--12 kpc. We look for evidence of…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is central to our interpretation of astronomical observables and to our understanding of most baryonic processes within galaxies. The universality of the IMF, suggested by observations in our own…