Related papers: A nonextensive insight to the stellar initial mass…
We review recent advances in our understanding of the origin of the initial mass function (IMF). We emphasize the use of numerical simulations to investigate how each physical process involved in star formation affects the resulting IMF. We…
Using Hubble Space Telescope ACS/WFC data we present the photometry and spatial distribution of resolved stellar populations of four fields within the extended ultraviolet disk (XUV disk) of M83. These observations show a clumpy…
We derive the average mass profile of elliptical galaxies from the ensemble of 161 strong gravitational lens systems selected from several surveys, assuming that the mass profile scales with the stellar mass and effective radius of each…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) of early-type galaxies is the combination of the IMF of the stellar population formed in-situ and that of accreted stellar populations. Using as an observable the effective IMF $\alpha_{IMF}$, defined…
[abridged] We aim to constrain the stellar initial mass function (IMF) during the epoch of reionization. To this purpose, we build up a semi-empirical model for the reionization history of the Universe, based on various ingredients: the…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is an underlying distribution function which determines many important observables, from the number of ionizing photons in a population of some age and metallicity, through the creation rate of…
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)…
Over the past years observations of young and populous star clusters have shown that the stellar IMF appears to be an invariant featureless Salpeter power-law with an exponent alpha=2.35 for stars more massive than a few Msun. A consensus…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) describes the distribution of stellar masses that form in a given star formation event. The long main-sequence lifetimes of low-mass stars mean that the IMF in this regime (below $\sim 1…
We present models for the initial mass function (IMF) for stars forming within molecular clouds. These models use the idea that stars determine their own masses through the action of powerful stellar outflows. This concept allows us to…
Because direct measurements require resolved stellar populations including low-mass stars, determining the stellar initial mass function (IMF) has been a historically difficult problem even within our own Galaxy and impossible everywhere…
Gaseous and stellar metallicities in galaxies are nowadays routinely used to constrain the evolutionary processes in galaxies. This requires the knowledge of the average yield per stellar generation, $y_{\text{Z}}$, i.e. the quantity of…
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…
Most structural and evolutionary properties of galaxies strongly rely on the stellar initial mass function (IMF), namely the distribution of the stellar mass formed in each episode of star formation. As the IMF shapes the stellar population…
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…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) plays a crucial role in determining the number of surviving stars in galaxies, the chemical composition of the interstellar medium, and the distribution of light in galaxies. A key unsolved question…
The current knowledge on the stellar IMF is documented. It appears to become top-heavy when the star-formation rate density surpasses about 0.1Msun/(yr pc^3) on a pc scale and it may become increasingly bottom-heavy with increasing…
Fifty years after Ed Salpeter's seminal paper, tremendous progress both on the observational and theoretical sides allow a fairly accurate determination of the Galactic IMF not only down to the hydrogen-burning limit but into the brown…
A method is presented here for investigating variations in the upper end of the stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) by probing the production rate of ionizing photons in unresolved, compact star clusters with ages<10 Myr and covering a…
The initial mass function (IMF) is a construct that describes the distribution of stellar masses for a newly formed population of stars. It is a fundamental element underlying all of star and galaxy formation, and has been the subject of…