Implications of a Temperature Dependent IMF I: Photometric Template Fitting
Abstract
A universal stellar initial mass function (IMF) should not be expected from theoretical models of star formation, but little conclusive observational evidence for a variable IMF has been uncovered. In this paper, a parameterization of the IMF is introduced into photometric template fitting of the COSMOS2015 catalog. The resulting best-fit templates suggest systematic variations in the IMF, with most galaxies exhibiting top-heavier stellar populations than in the Milky Way. At fixed redshift, only a small range of IMFs are found, with the typical IMF becoming progressively top-heavier with increasing redshift. Additionally, subpopulations of ULIRGs, quiescent- and star-forming galaxies are compared with predictions of stellar population feedback and show clear qualitative similarities to the evolution of dust temperatures.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2205.11536,
title = {Implications of a Temperature Dependent IMF I: Photometric Template Fitting},
author = {Albert Sneppen and Charles L. Steinhardt and Hagan Hensley and Adam S. Jermyn and Basel Mostafa and John R. Weaver},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2205.11536},
year = {2022}
}
Comments
Published in the 'The Astrophysical Journal'