Related papers: Steeper, Flatter, or Just "Salpeter"? Evidence fro…

We make use of a semi-analytical model of galaxy formation to investigate the origin of the observed correlation between [a/Fe] abundance ratios and stellar mass in elliptical galaxies. We implement a new galaxy-wide stellar initial mass…

Growing evidence suggests that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) varies systematically across galaxies, deviating from the canonical Milky Way form. Such variations would modify the integrated nucleosynthetic yields, and hence the…

Theoretical considerations lead to the expectation that stars should not have masses larger than about m_{max*}=60-120Msun, while the observational evidence has been ambiguous. Only very recently has a physical stellar mass limit near…

We characterize the luminosity distribution, halo mass dependence, and redshift evolution of red galaxies in galaxy clusters using the SDSS Data Release 8 RedMaPPer cluster sample. We propose a simple prescription for the relationship…

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…

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…

Faber-Jackson and Tully-Fisher scaling relations for elliptical and spiral galaxy samples up to z=1 provide evidence for a differential behaviour of galaxy evolution with mass. In compliance with the downsizing scenario, the stellar…

The total extragalactic background radiation can be an important test of the global star formation history (SFH). Using direct observational estimates of the SFH, along with standard assumptions about the initial mass function (IMF), we…

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…

The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way plays host to a massive, young cluster that may have formed in one of the most inhospitable environments in the Galaxy. We present new measurements of the global properties of this…

A number of recent studies have proposed that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) of early type galaxies varies systematically as a function of galaxy mass, with higher mass galaxies having bottom heavy IMFs. These bottom heavy IMFs…

(Abridged) We present new theoretical predictions for surface brightness fluctuations (SBFs) using models optimized for this purpose. Our predictions agree well with SBF data for globular clusters and elliptical galaxies. We provide refined…

We compute new population synthesis models of Lick absorption line indices with variable alpha/Fe ratios and use them to derive average ages, metallicities, and alpha/Fe element enhancements for a sample of 126 field and cluster early-type…

When star clusters are formed at low star-formation rates (SFRs), their stellar initial mass function (IMF) can hardly be filled continuously with stars at each mass. This lack holds for massive stars and is observationally verified by the…

Several observational and theoretical indications suggest that the initial mass function (IMF) becomes increasingly top-heavy (i.e., overabundant in high-mass stars with mass $m > 1M_{\odot}$) with decreasing metallicity and increasing gas…

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…

We perform a spectroscopic study to constrain the stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) by using a large sample of 24,781 early-type galaxies from the SDSS-based SPIDER survey. Clear evidence is found of a trend between IMF and central…

We consider whether stellar collisions can explain the observed depletion of red giants in the Galactic center. We model the stellar population with two different IMFs: 1) the Miller-Scalo and 2) a much flatter IMF. In the former case,…

We report on empirical trends between the dynamically determined stellar initial mass function (IMF) and stellar population properties for a complete, volume-limited sample of 260 early-type galaxies from the Atlas3D project. We study…

Observational constraints and theoretical arguments indicate that cooled interstellar gas in bright elliptical galaxies forms into a young stellar population throughout the region within the half-light radius. The young population has a…