The Salpeter IMF and its descendants
arXiv:1910.01126 · doi:10.1038/s41550-019-0793-0
Abstract
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is the key to understanding the matter cycle in the Universe. Edwin Salpeter's paper of 1955 founded this research field. Evidence today, however, challenges the initial mass function as an invariant probability distribution function.
published in Nature Astronomy, Vol.3, p.481-484 (2019) as News and Views, 3 pages, 1 figure