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arXiv · 1711.07487

The emergence of the galactic stellar mass function from a non-universal IMF in clusters

Sami Dib·Shantanu Basu
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Abstract

We investigate how a single generation galactic mass function (SGMF) depends on the existence of variations in the initial stellar mass functions (IMF) of stellar clusters. We show that cluster-to-cluster variations of the IMF lead to a multicomponent 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 $\approx 0.3$ M$_{\odot}$ 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.

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Sami Dib, Shantanu Basu. 2017-11-20. The emergence of the galactic stellar mass function from a non-universal IMF in clusters. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361%2F201732490

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