English
Related papers

Related papers: Radial gradients in initial mass function sensitiv…

200 papers

Spectral absorption features can be used to constrain the stellar initial mass function (IMF) in the integrated light of galaxies. Spectral indices used at low redshift are in the far red, and therefore increasingly hard to detect at higher…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-01-25 Baitian Tang , Guy Worthey

The complexity of constraining the stellar initial mass function (IMF) in early-type galaxies cannot be overstated, given the necessity of both very high signal-to-noise (S/N) data and the difficulty of breaking the strong degeneracies that…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-10-27 Ilaria Lonoce , Anja Feldmeier-Krause , Wendy L. Freedman

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 perform a spectroscopic study to constrain the stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) by using a large sample of 24,781 early-type galaxies from the SDSS-based SPIDER survey. Clear evidence is found of a trend between IMF and central…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-15 F. La Barbera , I. Ferreras , A. Vazdekis , I. G. de la Rosa , R. R. de Carvalho , M. Trevisan , J. Falcón-Barroso , E. Ricciardelli

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…

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

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),…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-15 M. Geha , T. M. Brown , J. Tumlinson , J. Kalirai , J. D. Simon , E. Kirby , D. VandenBerg , R. M. Munoz , R. Avila , P. Guhathakurta , H. Ferguson

MaNGA provides the opportunity to make precise spatially resolved measurements of the IMF slope in galaxies owing to its unique combination of spatial resolution, wavelength coverage and sample size. We derive radial gradients in age,…

We use stellar and dynamical mass profiles, combined with a stellar population analysis, of 32 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) at redshifts of 0.05 $\leq z \leq$ 0.30, to place constraints on their stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF). We…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2020-11-25 S. I. Loubser , H. Hoekstra , A. Babul , Y. M. Bahé , M. Donahue

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

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

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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2022-06-29 Meng Gu , Jenny Greene , Andrew B. Newman , Christina Kreisch , Matthew Quenneville , Chung-Pei Ma , John P. Blakeslee

Using new, homogeneous, long-slit spectroscopy in the wavelength range from ~0.35 to ~1micron, we study radial gradients of optical and near-infrared (NIR) IMF-sensitive features along the major axis of the bulge of M31, out to a…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-07-07 F. La Barbera , A. Vazdekis , I. Ferreras , A. Pasquali

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 investigate the optical spectral region of spectra of 1000 stars searching for IMF-sensitive features to constrain the low-mass end of the initial mass function (IMF) slope in elliptical galaxies. We use the MILES stellar library in the…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-15 Chiara Spiniello , Scott Trager , Léon V. E. Koopmans , Charlie Conroy

Our understanding of galaxy properties and evolution is contingent on knowing the initial mass function (IMF), and yet to date, the IMF is constrained only to local galaxies. Individual stars are now becoming routinely detected at…

Studies of the resolved stellar populations of young massive clusters have shown that the slope of the initial mass function appears to be the same everywhere, with no dependence on stellar density or metallicity. At the same time, studies…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-09-30 Philip Massey , Nidia I. Morrell , Kathryn F. Neugent , Monica Herzog , Maria R. Drout , Caitlin O'Brien

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…

Astrophysics · Physics 2008-11-26 Gilles Chabrier

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) seems to be variable and not universal, as argued in the literature in the last three decades. Several relations among the low-mass end of the IMF slope and other stellar population, photometric or…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-01-13 C. E. Barbosa , C. Spiniello , M. Arnaboldi , L. Coccato , M. Hilker , T. Richtler

We present J-band spectroscopy of passive galaxies focusing on the Na I doublet at 1.14 {\mu}m. Like the Na I 0.82 {\mu}m doublet, this feature is strong in low-mass stars and hence may provide a useful probe of the initial mass function…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-10-07 Russell J. Smith , Padraig Alton , John R. Lucey , Charlie Conroy , David Carter