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Related papers: Variation of the stellar initial mass function in …

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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 heavyweight stellar initial mass function (IMF) observed in the cores of massive early-type galaxies (ETGs) has been linked to formation of their cores in an initial swiftly-quenched rapid starburst. However, the outskirts of ETGs are…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-04-19 Padraig D. Alton , Russell J. Smith , John R. Lucey

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

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)…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-11-29 Alexa Villaume , Jean Brodie , Charlie Conroy , Aaron J. Romanowsky , Pieter van Dokkum

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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-03-26 Diego Salvador , Andrew Hopkins , Matt Owers , Themiya Nanayakkara , Scott Croom

One of the key observations regarding the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is its near-universality in the Milky Way (MW), which provides a powerful way to constrain different star formation models that predict the IMF. However, those…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2018-04-25 David Guszejnov , Philip F. Hopkins , Xiangcheng Ma

We investigate the impact of an environment-dependent galaxy-wide stellar initial mass function (gwIMF) on the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation (BTFR). The integrated galaxy-wide IMF (IGIMF) theory, which incorporates variations in stellar…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-07-18 Akram Hasani Zonoozi , Hosein Haghi , Pavel Kroupa , Sara Yousefizadeh , Zhiqiang Yan , Tereza Jerabkova , Eda Gjergo

The integrated galaxial initial mass function (IGIMF) is the relevant distribution function containing the information on the distribution of stellar remnants, the number of supernovae and the chemical enrichment history of a galaxy. Since…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-10 C. Weidner , P. Kroupa

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

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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-12-30 Pavel Kroupa , Eda Gjergo , Tereza Jerabkova , Zhiqiang Yan

The integrated galactic initial mass function (IGIMF) is computed from the combination of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) and the embedded cluster mass function, described by a power law with index beta. The result of the…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-03-18 Francesco Calura , Simone Recchi , Francesca Matteucci , Pavel Kroupa

Standard analytical chemical evolution modelling of galaxies has been assuming the stellar initial mass function (IMF) to be invariant and fully sampled allowing fractions of massive stars to contribute even in dwarf galaxies with very low…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-06-23 S. Recchi , P. Kroupa

The observed radial accelerations of 462 Early-type galaxies (ETGs) at their half-mass radii are discussed. They are compared to the baryonic masses of the same galaxies, which are derived from theoretical expectations for their stellar…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2023-09-14 Jörg Dabringhausen , Pavel Kroupa

Several independent lines of evidence suggest that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) in early-type galaxies becomes increasingly `bottom-heavy' with increasing galaxy mass and/or velocity dispersion, sigma. Here we consider evidence…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-16 Charlie Conroy , Aaron A. Dutton , Genevieve J. Graves , J. Trevor Mendel , Pieter G. van Dokkum

Star formation rates (SFR) larger than 1000 Msun/ yr are observed in extreme star bursts. This leads to the formation of star clusters with masses > 10^6 Msun in which crowding of the pre-stellar cores may lead to a change of the stellar…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-20 Carsten Weidner , Pavel Kroupa , Jan Pflamm-Altenburg

Interpreting galactic luminosity requires assumptions about the galaxy-wide initial mass function (gwIMF), often assumed invariant in most stellar population synthesis (SPS) models. If stars form in clusters with metallicity- and…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-02-07 Akram Hasani Zonoozi , Hosein Haghi , Pavel Kroupa

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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2023-01-31 Jiadong Li , Chao Liu , Zhi-Yu Zhang , Hao Tian , Xiaoting Fu , Jiao Li , Zhi-Qiang Yan

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…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2024-09-17 Francesco Gabrielli , Lumen Boco , Giancarlo Ghirlanda , Om Sharan Salafia , Ruben Salvaterra , Mario Spera , Andrea Lapi

[abridged] Stars are thought to be formed predominantly in clusters. The clusters are formed following a cluster initial mass function (CMF) similar to the stellar initial mass function (IMF). Both the IMF and the CMF favour low-mass…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2012-05-31 M. R. Haas , P. Anders

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) seems to be variable and not universal, as argued in the literature in the last three decades. Several relations among the low-mass end of the IMF slope and other stellar population, photometric or…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-01-13 C. E. Barbosa , C. Spiniello , M. Arnaboldi , L. Coccato , M. Hilker , T. Richtler