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The high-mass slope of the stellar initial mass function (IMF), first measured by E. Salpeter in 1955, appears universal across star-forming environments. Its origin remains a central unsolved problem in astrophysics. Using $getsf$, we…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-05-22 Guo-Yin Zhang , Alexander Men'shchikov , Jin-Zeng Li

Research on the high-mass end of the initial mass function (IMF) has been limited due to a scarcity of samples. Recently, Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), as the most efficient spectroscopic telescope, has…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-05-21 Qida Li , Jianping Xiong , Zhenwei Li , Dan Qiu , Chao Liu , Zhanwen Han , Xuefei Chen

Over the past years observations of young and populous star clusters have shown that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) can be conveniently described by a two-part power-law with an exponent alpha_2 = 2.3 for stars more massive than…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2010-11-10 Carsten Weidner , Jan Pflamm-Altenburg , Pavel Kroupa

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…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-13 M. Andersen , M. R. Meyer , J. Greissl , A. Aversa

The solar neighbourhood is populated by nearby, young moving groups (NYMGs) of stars that are candidates to be remnants of individual stellar clusters and associations, currently dispersing in the galactic disc. To derive the initial mass…

The functional form of the galaxy-wide stellar initial mass function is of fundamental importance for understanding galaxies. So far this stellar initial mass function has been assumed to be identical to the IMF observed directly in star…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2010-11-11 Jan Pflamm-Altenburg , Carsten Weidner , Pavel Kroupa

Much of our understanding of modern astrophysics rest on the notion that the Initial Mass Function (IMF) is universal. Our observations of a sample of HI-selected galaxies in the light of H-alpha and the far-ultraviolet (FUV) challenge this…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2010-08-25 G. R. Meurer

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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-12-30 Pavel Kroupa , Eda Gjergo , Tereza Jerabkova , Zhiqiang Yan

We present observational evidence of the correlation between the high-mass slope of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) in young star clusters and their stellar surface density, $\sigma_{*}$. When the high-mass end of the IMF is…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2023-11-03 Sami Dib

Recent work suggested that the variation of the initial mass function (IMF) of stars depends on the physical conditions, notably, the metallicity and gas density. We investigated the properties of two clusters, namely the main cluster (MC)…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-04-11 Marie Zinnkann , Henriette Wirth , Pavel Kroupa

Observations have not yielded convincing results concerning the form of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) or its variations in space and time, so it is proposed that theoretical models may provide useful guidance. Several classes of…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-09-25 John Scalo

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…

We present the results of numerical experiments designed to evaluate the usefulness of near-infrared luminosity functions for constraining the Initial Mass Function (IMF) of young stellar populations. From this numerical modeling, we find…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-10-31 August A. Muench , Elizabeth A. Lada , Charles J. Lada

Two varieties of the universal stellar initial mass function (IMF) viz., the Kroupa and the Chabrier IMF, have emerged over the last decade to explain the observed distribution of stellar masses. The possibility of the universal nature of…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-06-05 S. Anathpindika

In this contributed talk I present recent results on the connection between stellar population properties and the normalisation of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) measured using stellar dynamics, based on a large sample of 260…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-06-23 Richard M. McDermid

We investigate the effect of a metallicity-dependent stellar initial mass function (IMF), as deduced observationally by Martin-Navarro et al. (2015c), on the inferred stellar masses and star formation rates (SFRs) of a representative sample…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2016-08-31 Bart Clauwens , Joop Schaye , Marijn Franx

We investigate the most plausible stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) and the main origin of the tilt of the Fundamental Plane (FP) for old, massive early-type galaxies. We consider a sample of 13 bright galaxies of the Coma cluster and…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-14 C. Grillo , R. Gobat

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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2020-02-24 Elaad Applebaum , Alyson M. Brooks , Thomas R. Quinn , Charlotte R. Christensen

Mass measurements and absorption line studies indicate that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is bottom-heavy in the central regions of many early-type galaxies, with an excess of low mass stars compared to the IMF of the Milky Way.…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-12-22 Pieter van Dokkum , Charlie Conroy

Supersonic turbulence in the interstellar medium (ISM) is closely linked to the formation of stars, and hence many theories connect the stellar initial mass function (IMF) with the turbulent properties of molecular clouds. Here we test…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-03-10 D. G. Nam , C. Federrath , M. R. Krumholz