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It is usually assumed that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) takes a universal form and that there exists a direct mapping between this and the distribution of natal core masses (the core mass function, CMF). The IMF and CMF have been…

The stellar initial mass function (sIMF) describes the distribution of stellar masses formed in a single star formation event in a molecular cloud clump. It is fundamental to astrophysics and cosmology, shaping our understanding of…

We examine the cosmic evolution of a stellar initial mass function (IMF) in galaxies that varies with the Jeans mass in the interstellar medium, paying particular attention to the K-band stellar mass to light ratio (M/L_K) of present-epoch…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-11 Desika Narayanan , Romeel Davé

Star formation in the early Universe has left its imprint on the chemistry of observable stars in galaxies. We derive elemental abundances and the slope of the low-mass end of the initial mass function (IMF) for a sample of 25 very massive…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-04-08 Mark den Brok , Davor Krajnović , Eric Emsellem , Wilfried Mercier , Matthias Steinmetz , Peter M. Weilbacher

Young Moving Groups (YMGs) are close (<100pc), coherent collections of young (<100Myr) stars that appear to have formed in the same star-forming molecular cloud. As such we would expect their individual initial mass functions (IMFs) to be…

We investigate whether the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is universal, or whether it varies significantly among young stellar clusters in the Milky Way. We propose a method to uncover the range of variation of the parameters that…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-10-30 Sami Dib , Stefan Schmeja , Sacha Hony

In this work, we derive the stellar initial mass function (IMF) from the superposition of mass distributions of dense cores, generated through gravoturbulent fragmentation of unstable clumps in molecular clouds (MCs) and growing through…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-20 Todor Veltchev , Ralf S. Klessen , Paul C. Clark

Mass measurements and absorption line studies indicate that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is bottom-heavy in the central regions of many early-type galaxies, with an excess of low mass stars compared to the IMF of the Milky Way.…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-12-22 Pieter van Dokkum , Charlie Conroy

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is critical to our understanding of star formation and the effects of young stars on their environment. On large scales, it enables us to use tracers such as UV or Halpha emission to estimate the star…

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…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2010-10-26 Daniela Calzetti , Rupali Chandar , Janice C. Lee , Bruce G. Elmegreen , Robert C. Kennicutt , Brad C. Whitmore

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

Recent evidence based independently on spectral line strengths and dynamical modelling point towards a non-universal stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF), probably implying an excess of low-mass stars in elliptical galaxies with a high…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-16 Carsten Weidner , Ignacio Ferreras , Alexandre Vazdekis , Francesco La Barbera

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

To fully understand the star formation process, we are compelled to study it in a variety of environments. Of particular interest are how star formation and the resulting initial mass function (IMF) vary as a function of metallicity. We…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-05-20 M. Andersen , A. Brizawasi , Y. Cheng , J. C. Tan , R. Fedriani , J. J. Armstrong , M. Robberto

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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-03-26 Charles L. Steinhardt , Carter Meyerhoff , Alexander J. Luening

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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-01-18 Alessandro Sonnenfeld , Carlo Nipoti , Tommaso Treu

The stellar mass distribution in star-forming regions, stellar clusters and associations, the Initial Mass Function (IMF), appears to be invariant across different star-forming environments, and is consistent with the IMF observed in the…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-12-03 Sunder S. K. Singh-Bal , George A. Blaylock-Squibbs , Richard J. Parker , Simon P. Goodwin

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

Several recent observational studies have concluded that the initial mass function (IMF) of stars varies systematically with galaxy properties such as velocity dispersion. In this paper, we investigate the effect of linking the circular…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-18 Sean L. McGee , Ryosuke Goto , Michael L. Balogh

We investigate the optical spectral region of spectra of 1000 stars searching for IMF-sensitive features to constrain the low-mass end of the initial mass function (IMF) slope in elliptical galaxies. We use the MILES stellar library in the…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-15 Chiara Spiniello , Scott Trager , Léon V. E. Koopmans , Charlie Conroy