Related papers: The Impact of Binaries on the Stellar Initial Mass…
Stars do not form continuously distributed over star forming galaxies. They form in star clusters of different masses. This nature of clustered star formation is taken into account in the theory of the integrated galactic stellar initial…
The theory for the formation of the first population of stars (Pop III) predicts an initial mass function (IMF) dominated by high-mass stars, in contrast to the present-day IMF, which tends to yield mostly stars with masses less than 1…
Dust is important for star formation because it is the crucial component that couples gas to stellar radiation fields, allowing radiation feedback to influence gas fragmentation and thus the stellar initial mass function (IMF). Variations…
We review star formation in molecular clouds and describe why magnetic fields may be important and how they can influence filamentary structure and the column density probability distribution function (PDF). We also comment on the origin of…
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…
In the last decade, growing evidence has emerged supporting a non-universal stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) in massive galaxies, with a larger number of dwarf stars with respect to the Milky-Way (bottom-heavy IMF). However, a consensus…
The debate about the universality of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) revolves around two competing lines of evidence. While measurements in the Milky Way, an archetypal spiral galaxy, seem to support an invariant IMF, the observed…
Peaks and lulls in the star formation rate (SFR) over the history of the Galaxy produce plateaux and declines in the present day mass function (PDMF) where the main-sequence lifetime overlaps the age and duration of the SFR variation. These…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is an essential input for many astrophysical studies but only in a few cases it has been determined over the whole cluster mass range, limiting the conclusions about its nature. The 25 Orionis group…
Recent studies suggest that the initial mass function (IMF) of the first stars was likely to be extremely top-heavy, unlike what is observed at present. We propose a scenario to generate fragmentation to lower masses once the first massive…
A brief review is given of the basic observed features of the stellar IMF, and also of some of the theoretical ideas and simulations that may help to explain these features. The characteristic stellar mass of order one solar mass may derive…
A wealth of observations recently challenged the notion of a universal stellar initial mass function (IMF) by showing evidences in favour of a variability of this statistical indicator as a function of galaxy properties. I present…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) high-mass slope $\alpha$ is routinely measured by fitting single-star models to photometric samples that contain 20-90% unresolved binaries. This practice introduces a systematic negative bias on…
Observations and theories of the stellar initial mass function are reviewed. The universality and large total mass range of the power law portion of the IMF suggest a connection between stellar mass and cloud structure. The fractal patterns…
We examine variations of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) in extreme environments within the formalism derived by Hennebelle \& Chabrier. We focus on conditions encountered in progenitors of massive early type galaxies and starburst…
Observations of mergers of multi-compact object systems offer insights to the formation processes of massive stars in globular clusters. Simulations of stellar clusters, may be used to understand and interpret observations. Simulations…
We use recent microlensing observations toward the central bulge of the Galaxy to probe the overall stellar plus brown dwarf initial mass function (IMF) in these regions well within the brown dwarf domain. We find that the IMF is consistent…
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…
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)…
We show that the same initial mass function (IMF) can result from very different modes of star formation from very similar underlying core and/or system mass functions. In particular, we show that the canonical IMF can be recovered from…