Understanding the Stellar Initial Mass Function
Abstract
Description
The essential features of the stellar Initial Mass Function are, rather generally, (1) a peak at a mass of a few tenths of a solar mass, and (2) a power-law tail toward higher masses that is similar to the original Salpeter function. Recent work suggests that the IMF peak reflects a preferred scale of fragmentation associated with the transition from a cooling phase of collapse at low densities to a nearly isothermal phase at higher densities, where the gas becomes thermally coupled to the dust. The Salpeter power law is plausibly produced, at least in part, by scale-free accretion processes that build up massive stars in dense environments. The young stars at the Galactic Center appear to have unusually high masses, possibly because of a high minimum mass resulting from the high opacity of the dense star-forming gas.
5 pages, text only. Invited talk presented at the 11th Latin American Regional IAU Meeting, Pucon, Chile, December 2005; to be published by Revista Mexicana de Astronomia y Astrofisica. Second version has some revisions and updates
5 pages, text only. Invited talk presented at the 11th Latin American Regional IAU Meeting, Pucon, Chile, December 2005; to be published by Revista Mexicana de Astronomia y Astrofisica. Second version has some revisions and updates