Related papers: KINETyS: Constraining spatial variations of the st…
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…
We determine an absolute calibration of the initial mass function (IMF) of early-type galaxies, by studying a sample of 56 gravitational lenses identified by the SLACS Survey. Under the assumption of standard Navarro, Frenk & White dark…
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…
A number of recent studies have proposed that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) of early type galaxies varies systematically as a function of galaxy mass, with higher mass galaxies having bottom heavy IMFs. These bottom heavy IMFs…
It has been shown recently that the dynamical V-band mass-to-light ratios of compact stellar systems with masses from 10^6 to 10^8 Solar masses are not consistent with the predictions from simple stellar population (SSP) models. Top-heavy…
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…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is thought to be bottom-heavy in the cores of the most massive galaxies, with an excess of low mass stars compared to the Milky Way. However, studies of the kinematics of quiescent galaxies at 2<z<5…
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…
Banerji et al. (2009) suggested that top-heavy stellar Initial Mass Functions (IMFs) in galaxies may arise when the interstellar physical conditions inhibit low-mass star formation, and they determined the physical conditions under which…
It has frequently been suggested that the stellar IMF in galaxies was top-heavy at early times. This would be plausible physically if the IMF depends on a mass scale such as the Jeans mass that was higher at earlier times because of the…
Systematic variations of the IMF in early-type galaxies, and their connection with possible drivers such as velocity dispersion or metallicity, have been much debated in recent years. Strong lensing over galaxy scales combined with…
The Stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) characterizes the mass distribution of newly formed stars in various cosmic environments, serving as a fundamental assumption in astrophysical research. Recent findings challenge the prevalent notion…
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…
Recent studies seem to suggest that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) in early-type galaxies might be different from a classical Kroupa or Chabrier IMF, i.e. contain a larger fraction of the total mass in low-mass stars. From a…
Based on MUSE integral-field data we present evidence for a radial variation at the low-mass end of the stellar initial-mass function (IMF) in the central regions of the giant early-type galaxy NGC4486 (M87). We used state-of-the-art…
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…
Residual-gas expulsion after cluster formation has recently been shown to leave an imprint in the low-mass present-day stellar mass function (PDMF) which allowed the estimation of birth conditions of some Galactic globular clusters (GCs)…
The observed stellar initial mass function (IMF) appears to vary, becoming bottom-heavy in the centres of the most massive, metal-rich early-type galaxies. It is still unclear what physical processes might cause this IMF variation. In this…
To investigate possible variations in the stellar initial mass function (IMF) in red-sequence galaxies, we have obtained infrared spectroscopy with Subaru/FMOS for a sample of 92 red-sequence galaxies in the Coma cluster. Velocity…
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…