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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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-09-10 Pieter van Dokkum , Charlie Conroy

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is a key parameter to study galaxy evolution. Here we measure the IMF mass normalization for a sample of 68 field galaxies in the redshift range 0.7 to 0.9 within the Extended Groth Strip. To do this…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2014-06-19 Shravan Shetty , Michele Cappellari

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

We determine an absolute calibration of stellar mass-to-light ratios for the densest \simeq 3% of early-type galaxies in the local universe (redshift z\simeq 0.08) from SDSS DR7. This sample of \sim 4000 galaxies has, assuming a Chabrier…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-03 Aaron A. Dutton , J. Trevor Mendel , Luc Simard

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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-05-29 Zhiqiang Yan , Jiadong Li , Pavel Kroupa , Tereza Jerabkova , Eda Gjergo , Zhi-Yu Zhang

We examine the cosmic evolution of a stellar initial mass function (IMF) in galaxies that varies with the Jeans mass in the interstellar medium, paying particular attention to the K-band stellar mass to light ratio (M/L_K) of present-epoch…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-11 Desika Narayanan , Romeel Davé

The evolution of the galaxy stellar mass--star formation rate relationship (M*-SFR) provides key constraints on the stellar mass assembly histories of galaxies. For star-forming galaxies, M*-SFR is observed to be fairly tight with a slope…

Astrophysics · Physics 2010-11-23 Romeel Davé

Gradients in the stellar populations (SP) of galaxies -- e.g., in age, metallicity, stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) -- can result in gradients in the stellar mass to light ratio, $M_*/L$. Such gradients imply that the distribution of…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2022-11-30 M. Bernardi , R. K. Sheth , H. Dominguez Sanchez , B. Margalef-Bentabol , D. Bizyaev , R. R. Lane

We present an investigation about the shape of the initial mass function (IMF) of early-type galaxies (ETGs), based on a joint lensing and dynamical analysis, and on stellar population synthesis models, for a sample of 55 lens ETGs…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-06-22 Silvia Posacki , Michele Cappellari , Tommaso Treu , Silvia Pellegrini , Luca Ciotti

[arXiv Abridged] In this work, we explore new spatially-resolved measurements of the IMF for three edge-on lenticular galaxies in the Fornax cluster. Specifically, we utilise existing orbit-based dynamical models, which re-produce the…

Much of our knowledge of galaxies comes from analysing the radiation emitted by their stars. It depends on the stellar initial mass function (IMF) describing the distribution of stellar masses when the population formed. Consequently…

The recently inferred variations in the stellar initial mass function (IMF) among local high-mass early-type galaxies may require a reinterpretation of observations of galaxy populations and may have important consequences for the…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2018-07-17 Christopher Barber , Robert A. Crain , Joop Schaye

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

The initial mass function (IMF) succinctly characterizes a stellar population, provides a statistical measure of the end result of the star-formation process, and informs our under- standing of the structure and dynamical evolution of…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2011-07-25 Kevin R. Covey , Nate Bastian , Michael R. Meyer

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

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

Theoretical arguments and indirect observational evidence suggest that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) may evolve with time, such that it is more weighted toward high mass stars at higher redshift. Here we test this idea by…

Astrophysics · Physics 2010-01-07 Pieter van Dokkum

In our previous work, we derive the CR-IGIMF: a new scenario for a variable stellar initial mass function (IMF), which combines numerical results on the role played by cosmic rays in setting the thermal state of star forming gas, with the…

Observational studies are showing that the galaxy-wide stellar initial mass function are top-heavy in galaxies with high star-formation rates (SFRs). Calculating the integrated galactic stellar initial mass function (IGIMF) as a function of…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-17 Carsten Weidner , Pavel Kroupa , Jan Pflamm-Altenburg , Alexandre Vazdekis

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is commonly interpreted to be a scale-invariant probability density distribution function (PDF) such that many small clusters yield the same IMF as one massive cluster of the same combined number of…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2023-02-22 Zhiqiang Yan , Tereza Jerabkova , Pavel Kroupa