Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T22:08:11.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The massive star Initial Mass function

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2016

Daniel Schaerer
Daniel Schaerer*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique, Observatoire de Midi-Pyrénées, 14 avenue E. Belin, F-31400 Toulouse, la France

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We review our current knowledge on the IMF in nearby environments, massive star forming regions, super star clusters, starbursts and alike objects from studies of integrated light, and discuss the various techniques used to constrain the IMF. In most cases, including UV-optical studies of stellar features and optical-IR analysis of nebular emission, the data is found to be compatible with a ‘universal’ Salpeter-like IMF with a high upper mass cut-off over a large metallicity range. In contrast, near-IR observations of nuclear starbursts and LIRG show indications of a lower Mup and/or a steeper IMF slope, for which no alternate explanation has yet been found. Also, dynamical mass measurements of seven super star clusters provide so far no simple picture of the IMF. Finally, we present recent results of a direct stellar probe of the upper end of the IMF in metal-rich H ii regions, showing no deficiency of massive stars at high metallicity, and determining a lower limit of Mup ≳ 60 – 90 M⊙.

Type
Part 4. Feedback from Massive Stars
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 212: A Massive Star Odyssey: From Main Sequence to Supernova , 2003 , pp. 642 - 651
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2003 

References

Brandl, B., Brandner, W., Eisenhauer, F., Moffat, A.F.J., Palla, F., Zinnecker, H. 1999, A&A (Letters) 352, L69.Google Scholar
Bresolin, F., Kennicutt, R.C. 2002, ApJ 572, 838.Google Scholar
Bresolin, F., Kennicutt, R.C., Garnett, D.R. 1999, ApJ 510, 104.Google Scholar
Castellanos, M. 2001, , .Google Scholar
Castellanos, M., Díaz, Á.I., Terlevich, E. 2002, MNRAS 329, 315.Google Scholar
Colbert, J.W., Malkan, M.A., Clegg, P.E., et al. 1999, ApJ 511, 721.Google Scholar
Conti, P.S. 1991, ApJ 377, 115.Google Scholar
Coziol, R., Doyon, R., Demers, S. 2001, MNRAS 325, 1081.Google Scholar
de Mello, D.F., Leitherer, C., Heckman, T.M. 2000, ApJ 530, 251.Google Scholar
Doane, J.S., Matthews, W.G. 1993, ApJ 419, 573.Google Scholar
Figer, D.F., Morris, M., Geballe, T.R., Rich, R.M., Serabyn, E., McLean, I.S., Puetter, R.C., Yahil, A. 1999, ApJ 525, 759.Google Scholar
Förster Schreiber, N.M. 1998, , .Google Scholar
Förster Schreiber, N.M., 2000, New Astron. Reviews 44, 263.Google Scholar
Förster Schreiber, N.M., Genzel, R., Lutz, D., Kunze, D., Sternberg, A. 2001, ApJ 552, 544.Google Scholar
García-Vargas, M.L., Bressan, A., Díaz, Á.I. 1995, A&AS 112, 13.Google Scholar
García-Vargas, M.L., 1996, in: Leitherer, C., Fritze-von Alvensleben, U. & Huchra, J. (eds.), From Stars to Galaxies: The Impact of Stellar Physics on Galaxy Evolution, ASP-CS 98, 244.Google Scholar
Gilbert, A.M., Graham, J.R. 2001, AAS 199, 1404.Google Scholar
Gilmore, G., Howell, D., (eds.) 1998, The Stellar Initial Mass Function, ASP-CS 142.Google Scholar
Goldader, J.D., Joseph, R.D., Doyon, R., Sanders, D.B. 1997, ApJ 474 104.Google Scholar
Guseva, N.G., Izotov, Y.I., Thuan, T.X. 2000, ApJ 531, 776.Google Scholar
Ho, L.C., Filippenko, A.V. 1996a, ApJ (Letters) 466, L83.Google Scholar
Ho, L.C., Filippenko, A.V. 1996b, ApJ 472, 600.Google Scholar
Kewley, L.J., Dopita, M.A., Sutherland, R.S., Heisler, C.A., Trevena, J. 2001, ApJ 556, 121.Google Scholar
Kroupa, P. 2002, Science 295, 82.Google Scholar
Le Borgne, J.F., et al. 2002, in preparation.Google Scholar
Leitherer, C., 1998, in: Gilmore, G. & Howell, D. (eds), The Stellar Initial Mass Function, ASP-CS 142, 61.Google Scholar
Leitherer, C., Schaerer, D., Goldader, J.D., et al. 1999, ApJS 123, 3 (starburst99).Google Scholar
Leitherer, C., Calzetti, D., Martins, L.P. 2002, ApJ 574, 114.Google Scholar
Massey, P., Johnson, K.E., DeGioia-Eastwood, K. 1995, ApJ 454, 151.Google Scholar
Massey, P. 1998, in: Gilmore, G. & Howell, D. (eds), The Stellar Initial Mass Function, ASP-CS 142, 17.Google Scholar
Mas-Hesse, J.M., Kunth, D. 1999, A&A 349, 765.Google Scholar
Martín-Hernández, N.L., Vermeij, R., Tielens, A.G.G.M., van der Hulst, J.M., Peeters, E. 2002, A&A 389, 286.Google Scholar
Mengel, S., Lehnert, M.D., Thatte, N., Genzel, R. 2002, A&A 383, 137.Google Scholar
Moy, E., Rocca-Volmerange, B., Fioc, M. 2001, A&A 365, 347.Google Scholar
Papovich, C., Dickinson, M., Ferguson, H.C. 2001, ApJ 559, 620.Google Scholar
Pettini, M., Steidel, C.C., Adelberger, K.L., et al. 2000, ApJ 528, 96.Google Scholar
Pindao, M., Schaerer, D., González Delgado, R.M., Stasińska, G., 2002, A&A 394, 443.Google Scholar
Rieke, G.H., Lebofsky, M.J., Thompson, R.I., Low, F.J., Takunaga, A.T. 1980, ApJ 238, 23.Google Scholar
Rieke, G.H., Loken, K., Rieke, M.J., Tamblyn, P. 1993, ApJ 412, 99.Google Scholar
Sagar, R., Richtler, T. 1991, A&A 250, 324.Google Scholar
Salpeter, E.E. 1955, ApJ 121 161.Google Scholar
Satyapal, S., Watson, D.M., Pipher, J.L., et al. 1995, ApJ 448, 611.Google Scholar
Satyapal, S., Watson, D.M., Pipher, J.L., et al. 1997, ApJ 483, 148.Google Scholar
Schaerer, D. 1996, ApJ (Letters) 467, L17.Google Scholar
Schaerer, D., Vacca, W.D. 1998, ApJ 497, 618.Google Scholar
Schaerer, D. 1999a, in: van der Hucht, K.A., Koenigsberger, G. & Eenens, P.R.J. (eds.), Wolf-Rayet Phenomena in Massive Stars and Starburst Galaxies, Proc. IAU Symp. No. 193 (San Francisco: ASP), p. 539.Google Scholar
Schaerer, D. 1999b, in: Hubeny, I., Heap, S.R. & Cornett, R.H. (eds.), Spectrophotometric Dating of Stars and Galaxies, ASP-CS 192, 49.Google Scholar
Schaerer, D., Contini, T., Kunth, D. 1999a, A&A 341, 399.Google Scholar
Schaerer, D., Contini, T., Pindao, M. 1999b, A&AS 136, 35.Google Scholar
Schaerer, D., Guseva, N., Izotov, Y.I., Thuan, T.X. 2000, A&A 362, 53.Google Scholar
Schaerer, D. 2000, in: Alloin, D., Galaz, G. & Olsen, K. (eds.), Stars, Gas and Dust in Galaxies: Exploring the Links, ASP-CS 221, 99.Google Scholar
Sirianni, M., Nota, A., Leitherer, C., et al. 2000, ApJ 533, 203.Google Scholar
Smith, L.J., Gallagher, J.S. 2001, MNRAS 326, 1027.Google Scholar
Smith, L.J., Norris, R.P., Crowther, P.A. 2002, MNRAS 337, 1309.Google Scholar
Stasińska, G. 1996, in: Leitherer, C., Fritze-von Alvensleben, U. & Huchra, J. (eds.), From Stars to Galaxies, ASP-CS 98, 232.Google Scholar
Stasińska, G., Leitherer, C. 1996, ApJ 107, 661.Google Scholar
Stasińska, G., Schaerer, D., Leitherer, C. 2001, A&A 370, 1.Google Scholar
Stasińska, G., Izotov, Y.I. 2003, A&A 397, 71.Google Scholar
Thornley, M.D., Förster Schreiber, N.M., Lutz, D., Genzel, R., Spoon, H.W.W., Kunze, D., Sternberg, A. 2000, ApJ 539, 641.Google Scholar
Tremonti, C.A., Calzetti, D., Leitherer, C., Heckman, T.M. 2001, ApJ 555, 322.Google Scholar