相关论文: Confidence Limits of Evolutionary Synthesis Models

The stochastic nature of the IMF in young stellar clusters implies that clusters of the same mass and age do not present the same unique values of their observed parameters. Instead they follow a distribution. We address the study of such…

When evolutionary synthesis models take into account the stochastic nature of the IMF together with the discrete number of stars in real stellar clusters, typical output turns to dispersion band (where real data can be placed) instead of…

Ranging from track interpolation techniques through model atmospheres to the stochastic nature of the IMF, there are many uncertainties which need to be taken into account when modelling HR diagrams or performing population synthesis,…

Evolutionary synthesis models are a fundamental tool to interpret the properties of observed stellar systems. In order to achieve a meaningful comparison between models and real data, it is necessary to calibrate the models themselves, i.e.…

Synthesis models predict the integrated properties of stellar populations. Several problems exist in this field, mostly related to the fact that integrated properties are distributed. To date, this aspect has been either ignored (as in…

The stellar masses, mean ages, metallicities, and star formation histories of galaxies are now commonly estimated via stellar population synthesis (SPS) techniques. SPS relies on stellar evolution calculations from the main sequence to…

The fundamental properties of stellar clusters, such as the age or the total initial mass in stars, are often inferred from population synthesis models. The predicted properties are then used to constrain the physical mechanisms involved in…

(abriged) Stellar clusters with the same general physical properties (e.g., total mass, age, and star-formation mode) may have very different stellar mass spectra due to the incomplete sampling of the underlying mass function; such…

The combination of a finite time-scale for star formation, rapid early stellar evolution and rapid stellar-dynamical processes imply that the stellar IMF cannot be inferred for any star cluster independently of its age (the Cluster IMF…

Evolutionary synthesis models have been used to study the physical properties of unresolved populations in a wide range of scenarios. Unfortunately, their self-consistency are difficult to test and there are some theoretical open questions…

In terms of statistical fluctuations, stellar population synthesis models are only asymptotically correct in the limit of a large number of stars, where sampling errors become asymptotically small. When dealing with stellar clusters,…

When a detailed model of a stellar population is unavailable, it is most common to assume that stellar masses are independently and identically distributed according to some distribution: the universal initial mass function (IMF). However,…

Observations have not yielded convincing results concerning the form of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) or its variations in space and time, so it is proposed that theoretical models may provide useful guidance. Several classes of…

We introduce a new method to measure the dispersion of mmax values of star clusters and show that the observed sample of mmax is inconsistent with random sampling from an universal stellar initial mass function (IMF) at a 99.9% confidence…

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is commonly interpreted to be a scale-invariant probability density distribution function (PDF) such that many small clusters yield the same IMF as one massive cluster of the same combined number of…

In a probabilistic framework of the interpretation of the initial mass function (IMF), the IMF cannot be arbitrarily normalized to the total mass, M, or number of stars, N, of the system. Hence, the inference of M and N when partial…

A survey of results concerning the IMF derived from star counts is presented, including work up to, but not including, that presented in these proceedings. The situation regarding low-mass stars in the field and in clusters, high-mass stars…

I track the history of star count estimates of the Milky Way field star and open cluster IMFs, concentrating on the neglected mass range from 1 to 15 M${_\odot}$. The prevalent belief in a universal IMF appears to be without basis for this…

Metal-poor globular clusters (GCs) can provide a probe of the earliest epoch of star formation in the Universe, being the oldest stellar systems observable. In addition, young and intermediate-age low-metallicity GCs are present in external…

(abridged) The {stellar IMF} has been found to be essentially invariant. While some apparent differences are seen, the uncertainties inherent to this game do not allow a firm conclusion to be made that the IMF varies systematically with…