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One of the key mysteries of star formation is the origin of the stellar initial mass function (IMF). The IMF is observed to be nearly universal in the Milky Way and its satellites, and significant variations are only inferred in extreme…
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…
The kinetic energy dissipation rate in the turbulent ISM of disk galaxies is a key ingredient in galaxy evolution models since it determines the effectiveness of large-scale star formation (SF) feedback. Using magneto-hydro-dynamic…
This paper revisits the classical Kennicutt method for inferring the stellar initial mass function (IMF) from the integrated light properties of galaxies. The large size, uniform high quality data set from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR4…
Using self-consistent chemodynamical simulations including star formation, supernova feedback, and chemical enrichment, I show the dependence of cosmic star formation and chemical enrichment histories on the initial mass function (IMF). The…
Cosmological simulations are reaching the resolution necessary to study ultra-faint dwarf galaxies. Observations indicate that in small populations, the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is not fully populated; rather, stars are sampled…
We present a new model to describe the star formation process in galaxies, which includes the description of the different gas phases -- molecular, atomic, and ionized -- together with its metal content. The model, which will be coupled to…
The star formation rate (SFR) in galactic disks depends on both the quantity of available interstellar medium (ISM) gas and its physical state. Conversely, the ISM's physical state depends on the SFR, because the "feedback" energy and…
Feedback from massive stars is believed to play a critical role in shaping the galaxy mass function, the structure of the interstellar medium (ISM), and the low efficiency of star formation, but the exact form of the feedback is uncertain.…
We describe the use of our chemical evolution model to reproduce the abundance patterns observed in a catalog of elliptical galaxies from the SDSS DR4. The model assumes ellipticals form by fast gas accretion, and suffer a strong burst of…
The initial mass function (IMF) of stars and the corresponding cloud mass function (CMF), traditionally considered universal, exhibit variations that are influenced by the local environment. Notably, these variations are apparent in the…
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…
From time to time, and quite more frequently in recent years, claims appear favoring a variable Initial Mass Function (IMF), one way or another, either in time or space. In this chapter we add our two pennies of wisdom, illustrating how the…
We suggest that the intrinsic, stellar initial mass function (IMF) follows a power-law slope gamma=2, inherited from hierarchical fragmentation of molecular clouds into clumps and clumps into stars. The well-known, logarithmic Salpeter…
This paper aims at understanding if the normalization of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) of massive early-type galaxies (ETGs) varies with cosmic time and/or with mean stellar mass density Sigma (M*/2\pi Re^2). For this purpose we…
The initial and present-day mass functions (ICMF and PDMF, respectively) of the Galactic globular clusters (GCs) are constructed based on their observed luminosities, the stellar evolution and dynamical mass-loss processes, and the…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is believed to be non-universal among early-type galaxies (ETGs). Parameterizing the IMF with the so-called IMF mismatch parameter $\alpha_{\rm IMF}$, which is a measure of the stellar mass-to-light…
The origin of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is a fundamental issue in the theory of star formation. It is generally fit with a composite power law. Some clues on the progenitors can be found in dense starless cores that have a…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) integrated over an entire galaxy is an integral over all separate star-formation events. Since most stars form in star clusters with different masses the integrated IMF becomes an integral of the…
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…