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Related papers: The initial mass function of stars

200 papers

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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2023-06-01 Tabassum S. Tanvir , Mark R. Krumholz

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is predicted to depend upon the temperature of gas in star-forming molecular clouds. The introduction of an additional parameter, $T_{IMF}$ , into photometric template fitting, suggest most galaxies…

The origin of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is one of the most debated issues in astrophysics. Here, we explore the possible link between the quasi-universal filamentary structure of star-forming molecular clouds and the origin of…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2019-08-28 Philippe André , Doris Arzoumanian , Vera Könyves , Yoshito Shimajiri , Pedro Palmeirim

We present observational evidence of the correlation between the high-mass slope of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) in young star clusters and their stellar surface density, $\sigma_{*}$. When the high-mass end of the IMF is…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2023-11-03 Sami Dib

Recent results form the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) report space densities for bright and massive galaxies at z>7 that far exceed expectations of theoretical models of galaxy formation, prompting a revision of our understanding of the…

Context: Stars form in the cold dense cores of interstellar molecular clouds and the detailed knowledge of the spectrum of masses of such cores is clearly a key for the understanding of the origin of the IMF. To date, observations have…

Astrophysics · Physics 2011-06-21 J. Alves , M. Lombardi , C. Lada

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

Explaining the initial mass function (IMF) of stars is a long-standing problem in astrophysics. The number of complex mechanisms involved in the process of star cluster formation, such as turbulence, magnetic fields and stellar feedback,…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2020-08-04 Sajay Sunny Mathew , Christoph Federrath

It has been shown recently that the dynamical V-band mass-to-light ratios of compact stellar systems with masses from 10^6 to 10^8 Solar masses are not consistent with the predictions from simple stellar population (SSP) models. Top-heavy…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2010-02-25 J. Dabringhausen , P. Kroupa , H. Baumgardt

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

Magnetic fields play an important role for the formation of stars in both local and high-redshift galaxies. Recent studies of dynamo amplification in the first dark matter haloes suggest that significant magnetic fields were likely present…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2020-07-08 Piyush Sharda , Christoph Federrath , Mark R. Krumholz

The hypothesis of a universal initial mass function (IMF) -- motivated by observations in nearby stellar systems -- has been recently challenged by the discovery of a systematic variation of the IMF with the central velocity dispersion,…

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

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

Research on the high-mass end of the initial mass function (IMF) has been limited due to a scarcity of samples. Recently, Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), as the most efficient spectroscopic telescope, has…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-05-21 Qida Li , Jianping Xiong , Zhenwei Li , Dan Qiu , Chao Liu , Zhanwen Han , Xuefei Chen

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…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 Richard B. Larson

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…

We investigate the effect of a metallicity-dependent stellar initial mass function (IMF), as deduced observationally by Martin-Navarro et al. (2015c), on the inferred stellar masses and star formation rates (SFRs) of a representative sample…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2016-08-31 Bart Clauwens , Joop Schaye , Marijn Franx

We consider that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) depends on physical properties of star-forming molecular clouds in galaxies and thereby investigate how such a non-universal IMF (NUIMF) influences galaxy evolution. We incorporate a…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-17 Kenji Bekki

We examine the initial mass functions (IMFs) of stars produced by different molecular core mass functions. Simulations suggest that more massive cores produce more stars, so we propose a model in which the average number of stars formed in…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 Simon P. Goodwin , A. P. Whitworth , D. Ward-Thompson