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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 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…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-08-18 Charlie Conroy , James E. Gunn , Martin White

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

Recent results form the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) report space densities for bright and massive galaxies at z>7 that far exceed expectations of theoretical models of galaxy formation, prompting a revision of our understanding of the…

We measure the high-mass stellar initial mass function (IMF) from resolved stars in M33 young stellar clusters. Leveraging \textit{Hubble Space Telescope's} high resolving power, we fully model the IMF probabilistically. We first model the…

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

The stellar initial-mass function (IMF) represents a fundamental quantity in astrophysics and cosmology, describing the mass distribution of stars from low to very-high masses. It is intimately linked to a wide variety of topics, including…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2024-09-17 Francesco Gabrielli , Lumen Boco , Giancarlo Ghirlanda , Om Sharan Salafia , Ruben Salvaterra , Mario Spera , Andrea Lapi

The long-standing assumption that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is universal has recently been challenged by a number of observations. Several studies have shown that a "heavy" IMF (e.g., with a Salpeter-like abundance of low mass…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-17 Brendon J. Brewer , Philip J. Marshall , Matthew W. Auger , Tommaso Treu , Aaron A. Dutton , Matteo Barnabè

Low-mass stars (M<0.4Msun) are thought to comprise the bulk of the stellar mass of galaxies but they constitute only of order a percent of the bolometric luminosity of an old stellar population. Directly estimating the number of low-mass…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-30 Charlie Conroy , Pieter van Dokkum

The stellar initial mass function is of great significance for the study of star formation and galactic structure. Observations indicate that the IMF follows a power-law form. This work derived that when the expected number of stars formed…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-03-20 Yu-Fu Shen

We explore the assumption, widely used in many astrophysical calculations, that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is universal across all galaxies. By considering both a canonical Salpeter-like IMF and a non-universal IMF, we are able…

The presence (and nature) of variations in the stellar initial mass function (IMF) at substantially sub-solar masses and metallicities ($m$$<$0.5M$_{\odot}$, [M/H]$\lesssim$$-$1) remains poorly constrained. Predictions from simulations vary…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-03-17 Roger E. Cohen , Mario Gennaro , Matteo Correnti , Kristen B. W. McQuinn , Vedant Chandra

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) describes the distribution in stellar masses produced from a burst of star formation. For more than fifty years, the implicit assumption underpinning most areas of research involving the IMF has been…

Many recent works have attempted to constrain the stellar initial mass function (IMF) inside massive clusters by comparing their dynamical mass estimates to the measured light. These studies have come to different conclusions, with some…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-11 N. Bastian , S. P. Goodwin

An essential component of galaxy formation theory is the stellar initial mass function (IMF), that describes the parent distribution of stellar mass in star forming regions. We present observational evidence in a sample of early-type…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-05 I. Ferreras , F. La Barbera , R. R. de Carvalho , I. G. de la Rosa , A. Vazdekis , J. Falcon-Barroso , E. Ricciardelli

The measured star-formation rates (SFRs) of galaxies comprise an important constraint on galaxy evolution and also on their cosmological boundary conditions. Any available tracer of the SFR depends on the shape of the mass-distribution of…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-12-22 Pavel Kroupa , Tereza Jerabkova

Few topics in astronomy initiate such vigorous discussion as whether or not the initial mass function (IMF) of stars is universal, or instead sensitive to the initial conditions of star formation. The distinction is of critical importance:…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2010-12-01 Nate Bastian , Kevin R. Covey , Michael R. Meyer

We investigate whether the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is universal, or whether it varies significantly among young stellar clusters in the Milky Way. We propose a method to uncover the range of variation of the parameters that…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-10-30 Sami Dib , Stefan Schmeja , Sacha Hony

Variations in the stellar initial mass function (IMF) have been invoked to explain the spectroscopic and dynamical properties of early-type galaxies. However, no observations have yet been able to disentangle the physical driver. We analyse…

Recent studies of early-type galaxies have suggested that the initial mass function (IMF) slope is bottom-heavy, i.e. they contain a larger fraction of low-mass stars than the Milky Way. However, measurements of the IMF remain challenging…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2020-10-14 A. Feldmeier-Krause , I. Lonoce , W. L. Freedman