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Related papers: The Initial Mass Function in Clusters

200 papers

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

We undertake a systematic analysis of the early (< 0.5 Myr) evolution of clustering and the stellar initial mass function in turbulent fragmentation simulations. These large scale simulations for the first time offer the opportunity for a…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-05-18 Th. Maschberger , C. J. Clarke , I. A. Bonnell , P. Kroupa

Stars are amongst the most fundamental structures of our Universe. They comprise most of the baryonic and luminous mass of galaxies, synthethise heavy elements, and injec\ t mass, momentum, and energy into the interstellar medium. They are…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-04-16 Patrick Hennebelle , Michael Y. Grudić

Observations and theories of the stellar initial mass function are reviewed. The universality and large total mass range of the power law portion of the IMF suggest a connection between stellar mass and cloud structure. The fractal patterns…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 Bruce G. Elmegreen

The possibility that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) arises mostly from cloud structure is investigated with fractal Brownian motion (fBm) clouds that have power-law power spectra. An fBm cloud with a realistic projected power…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-05-19 Mohsen Shadmehri , Bruce G. Elmegreen

The stellar initial mass function is of great significance for the study of star formation and galactic structure. Observations indicate that the IMF follows a power-law form. This work derived that when the expected number of stars formed…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-03-20 Yu-Fu Shen

We investigate how different stellar initial mass functions (IMFs) can affect the mass loss and survival of star clusters. We find that IMFs with radically different low-mass cut-offs (between 0.1 and 2 Msun) do not change cluster…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-22 M. B. N. Kouwenhoven , S. P. Goodwin , R. de Grijs , M. Rose , Sungsoo S. Kim

An essential component of galaxy formation theory is the stellar initial mass function (IMF), that describes the parent distribution of stellar mass in star forming regions. We present observational evidence in a sample of early-type…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-05 I. Ferreras , F. La Barbera , R. R. de Carvalho , I. G. de la Rosa , A. Vazdekis , J. Falcon-Barroso , E. Ricciardelli

We explore the assumption, widely used in many astrophysical calculations, that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is universal across all galaxies. By considering both a canonical Salpeter-like IMF and a non-universal IMF, we are able…

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…

Recent work has suggested that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is not universal, but rather is correlated with galaxy stellar mass, stellar velocity dispersion, or morphological type. In this paper, we investigate variations of the…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-05 A. A. Dutton , T. Treu , B. J. Brewer , P. J. Marshall , M. W. Auger , M. Barnabe , D. C. Koo , A. S. Bolton , L. V. E. Koopmans

It is frequently debated in literature whether a "standard" Initial Mass Function (IMF) - meaning an IMF of the kind usually adopted to explain the chemical evolution in the local Solar Neighbourhood - can account for the observed metal…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-10 L. Portinari , A. Moretti , C. Chiosi , J. Sommer-Larsen

As most if not all stars are born in stellar clusters the shape of the mass function of the field stars is not only determined by the initial mass function of stars (IMF) but also by the cluster mass function (CMF). In order to quantify…

Astrophysics · Physics 2015-11-11 Carsten Weidner , Pavel Kroupa

Two varieties of the universal stellar initial mass function (IMF) viz., the Kroupa and the Chabrier IMF, have emerged over the last decade to explain the observed distribution of stellar masses. The possibility of the universal nature of…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-06-05 S. Anathpindika

Theoretical and indirect observational evidences suggest that stellar initial mass function (IMF) increases with redshift. On the other hand star formation rates (SFR) may be as high as 100 $M_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ in star burst galaxies.…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-08-06 Tanuka Chattopadhyay , Tuli De , Bharat Warlu , Asis Kumar Chattopadhyay

We have undertaken the largest systematic study of the high-mass stellar initial mass function (IMF) to date using the optical color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of 85 resolved, young (4 Myr < t < 25 Myr), intermediate mass star clusters…

Observational constraints on the theory of the IMF are reviewed. These observations include the new result that star formation is very rapid, usually going from start to finish in only 1 or 2 dynamical times on a wide range of scales. This…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 B. G. Elmegreen

Does the IMF vary? Is it significantly different in metal-rich environments than in metal-poor ones? Theoretical work predicts this to be the case. But in order to provide robust empirical evidence for this, the researcher must understand…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 Pavel Kroupa

Residual-gas expulsion after cluster formation has recently been shown to leave an imprint in the low-mass present-day stellar mass function (PDMF) which allowed the estimation of birth conditions of some Galactic globular clusters (GCs)…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-06-04 Michael Marks , Pavel Kroupa , Jörg Dabringhausen , Marcel S. Pawlowski

The stellar initial mass function (IMF), along with the star formation rate, is one of the fundamental properties that any theory of star formation must explain. An interesting feature of the IMF is that it appears to be remarkably…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2011-06-20 Andrew T. Myers , Mark R. Krumholz , Richard I. Klein , Christopher F. McKee