Variability in the stellar initial mass function at high mass: coalescence models for starburst clusters

Abstract

A coalescence model using the observed properties of pre-stellar condensations (PSCs) shows how an initially steep IMF that might be characteristic of primordial cloud fragmentation can change into a Salpeter IMF or shallower IMF in a cluster of normal density after one dynamical time, even if the PSCs are collapsing on their own dynamical time. The model suggests that top-heavy IMFs in some starburst clusters originate with PSC coalescence.

1 figure, accepted by MNRAS

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Cited by in corpus (21)

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• Chemo-Archaeological Downsizing in a Hierarchical Universe: Impact of a Top Heavy IGIMF
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• The IMF of stellar clusters: effects of accretion and feedback
• Massive stars reveal variations of the stellar initial mass function in the Milky Way stellar clusters
• Top-heavy integrated galactic stellar initial mass functions (IGIMFs) in starbursts
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• Revisiting the universality of (multiple) star formation in present-day star formation regions
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• The galaxy-wide stellar initial mass function in the presence of cluster-to-cluster IMF variations
• Comparison of the Halpha equivalent width of HII regions in a flocculent and a grand design galaxy: possible evidences for IMF variations
• The IMF in Starbursts
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• On the Coagulation and Size Distribution of Pressure Confined Cores
• The Initial Mass Function as given by the fragmentation
• Cluster Density and the IMF