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Related papers: On the function describing the stellar initial mas…

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The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is a key property of stellar populations. There is growing evidence that the classical star-formation mechanism by the direct cloud fragmentation process has difficulties reproducing the observed…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-02-19 Ingo Thies , Jan Pflamm-Altenburg , Pavel Kroupa , Michael Marks

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,…

Analyses of strong gravitational lenses, galaxy-scale kinematics, and absorption line stellar population synthesis (SPS) have all concluded that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) varies within the massive early-type galaxy (ETG)…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-11-29 Alexa Villaume , Jean Brodie , Charlie Conroy , Aaron J. Romanowsky , Pieter van Dokkum

We use Gaia DR2 to measure the initial mass function (IMF) of stars within 250 pc and masses in the range 0.2 < m/Msun < 1.0, separated according to kinematics and metallicity, as determined from Gaia transverse velocity, v_T, and location…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-08-11 Na'ama Hallakoun , Dan Maoz

We propose that the core mass function (CMF) can be driven by filament fragmentation. To model a star-forming system of filaments and fibers, we develop a fractal and turbulent tree with a fractal dimension of 2 and a Larson's law exponent…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-01-30 Xunchuan Liu , Tie Liu , Xiaofeng Mai , Yu Cheng , Sihan Jiao , Wenyu Jiao , Hongli Liu , Siju Zhang

Observed variations in the slope of the initial stellar mass function are shown to be consistent with a model in which the protostellar gas is randomly sampled from hierarchical clouds at a rate proportional to the square root of the local…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-10-31 B. G. Elmegreen

A robust stellar initial mass function (IMF) is crucial in any studies related to star formation. However, the direct measurement of the stellar IMF is confined to the local universe, limited by the resolving power of telescopes. Recently,…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2026-02-12 Sung Kei Li

The origin of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is one of the most debated issues in astrophysics. Here, we explore the possible link between the quasi-universal filamentary structure of star-forming molecular clouds and the origin of…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2019-08-28 Philippe André , Doris Arzoumanian , Vera Könyves , Yoshito Shimajiri , Pedro Palmeirim

Given a flurry of recent claims for systematic variations in the stellar initial mass function (IMF), we carry out the first inventory of the observational evidence using different approaches. This includes literature results, as well as…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-05 Crescenzo Tortora , Aaron J. Romanowsky , Nicola R. Napolitano

If all stars form in clusters and both the stars and the clusters follow a power law distribution which favours the creation of low mass objects, then the numerous low mass clusters will be deficient in high mass stars. Therefore, the mass…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-14 M. R. Haas , P. Anders

I use a sample of more than 120,000 stars in the solar neighbourhood with parallaxes, magnitudes and colours estimated with unprecedented accuracy by the second data release of the Gaia mission to derive the initial mass function of the…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2019-09-25 A. Sollima

The stellar initial mass function (sIMF) describes the distribution of stellar masses formed in a single star formation event in a molecular cloud clump. It is fundamental to astrophysics and cosmology, shaping our understanding of…

The current knowledge on the stellar IMF is documented. It appears to become top-heavy when the star-formation rate density surpasses about 0.1Msun/(yr pc^3) on a pc scale and it may become increasingly bottom-heavy with increasing…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-03 Pavel Kroupa , Carsten Weidner , Jan Pflamm-Altenburg , Ingo Thies , Joerg Dabringhausen , Michael Marks , Thomas Maschberger

The local stellar mass density is observed to be significantly lower than the value obtained from integrating the cosmic star formation history (SFH), assuming that all the stars formed with a Salpeter initial mass function (IMF). Even…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-13 Stephen M. Wilkins , Andrew M. Hopkins , Neil Trentham , Rita Tojeiro

We explore the stellar initial mass function (IMF) of a sample of 49 massive quiescent galaxies (MQGs) at 0.9$<$z$<$1.5. We base our analysis on intermediate resolution spectro-photometric data in the GOODS-N field taken in the…

The stellar mass distribution in star-forming regions, stellar clusters and associations, the Initial Mass Function (IMF), appears to be invariant across different star-forming environments, and is consistent with the IMF observed in the…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-12-03 Sunder S. K. Singh-Bal , George A. Blaylock-Squibbs , Richard J. Parker , Simon P. Goodwin

We investigated a volume-limited sample of LAMOST main-sequence stars with masses from 0.25 to 1 $M_{\odot}$ and distances of 150-350 pc to explore how the stellar initial mass function (IMF) varies with metallicity. We corrected the…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-11-07 Dan Qiu , Chao Liu , Jennifer A. Johnson , Jiadong Li , Bo Zhang

The ATLAS3D Survey has reported evidence for a non-universal stellar initial mass function (IMF) for early type galaxies (ETGs) (Cappellari et al. 2012, 2013b,a). The IMF was constrained by comparing stellar mass measurements from kinematic…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-06-19 Bart Clauwens , Joop Schaye , Marijn Franx

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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2023-04-13 Shohei Aoyama , Masami Ouchi , Yuichi Harikane

The stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) seems to be close to universal in the local star-forming regions. However, this quantity of a newborn stellar population responds differently at gas metallicities $Z \sim$ $Z_\odot$ than $Z$ = 0. A…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-03-31 Rafeel Riaz , Dominik R. G. Schleicher , Siegfried Vanaverbeke , Ralf S. Klessen