Issue |
A&A
Volume 614, June 2018
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A43 | |
Number of page(s) | 5 | |
Section | Galactic structure, stellar clusters and populations | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201732490 | |
Published online | 12 June 2018 |
The emergence of the galactic stellar mass function from a non-universal IMF in clusters
1
Niels Bohr International Academy, Niels Bohr Institute,
Blegdamsvej 17,
2100
Copenhagen, Denmark
e-mail: sami.dib@gmail.com
2
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario,
London,
Ontario
N6A 3K7, Canada
Received:
18
December
2017
Accepted:
9
February
2018
We investigate the dependence of a single-generation galactic mass function (SGMF) on variations in the initial stellar mass functions (IMF) of stellar clusters. We show that cluster-to-cluster variations of the IMF lead to a multi-component SGMF where each component in a given mass range can be described by a distinct power-law function. We also show that a dispersion of ≈0.3 M⊙ in the characteristic mass of the IMF, as observed for young Galactic clusters, leads to a low-mass slope of the SGMF that matches the observed Galactic stellar mass function even when the IMFs in the low-mass end of individual clusters are much steeper.
Key words: stars: luminosity function, mass function / galaxies: clusters: general / galaxies: stellar content / open clusters and associations: general
© ESO 2018
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