Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T01:32:11.762Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Stellar Initial Mass Function in Starburst Galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2016

Claus Leitherer
Claus Leitherer*
Affiliation:
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218

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.

Starburst galaxies are currently forming massive stars at prodigious rates. I discuss the star-formation histories and the shape of the initial mass function, with particular emphasis on the high- and on the low-mass end. The classical Salpeter IMF is consistent with constraints from observations of the most massive stars, irrespective of environmental properties. The situation at the low-mass end is less clear: direct star counts in nearby giant H II regions show stars down to ~1 M⊙, whereas dynamical arguments in some starburst galaxies suggest a deficit of such stars.

Type
Starbursts
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 186: Galaxy Interactions at High and Low Redshift , 1999 , pp. 243 - 250
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1999 

References

Cerviño, M., & Mas-Hesse, J. M. 1994, A&A, 284, 749 Google Scholar
Cid Fernandes, R., & Terlevich, R. 1995, MNRAS, 272, 423 Google Scholar
Colina, L., García-Vargas, M. L., Mas-Hesse, J. M., Alberdi, A., & Krabbe, A. 1997, ApJ, 484, L41 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conti, P. S. 1991, ApJ, 377, 115 Google Scholar
Conti, P. S., Leitherer, C., & Vacca, W. D. 1996, ApJ, 461, L87 Google Scholar
Devereux, N. A., & Young, J. S. 1990, ApJ, 350, L25 Google Scholar
Doyon, R., Joseph, R. D., & Wright, G. S. 1994, ApJ, 421, 101 Google Scholar
Doyon, R., Puxley, P. J., & Joseph, R. D. 1992, ApJ, 397, 117 Google Scholar
Fanelli, M. N., et al. 1997, AJ, 114, 575 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, J. S. 1996, in From Stars to Galaxies: The Impact of Stellar Physics on Galaxy Evolution, ed. Leitherer, C., et al. (San Francisco: ASP), 315 Google Scholar
García-Vargas, M. L., Bressan, A., & Díaz, A. I. 1995a, A&AS, 112, 13 Google Scholar
García-Vargas, M. L. 1995b, A&AS, 112, 35 Google Scholar
Goldader, J. D., Joseph, R. D., Doyon, R., & Sanders, D. B. 1997, ApJ, 474, 104 Google Scholar
Heckman, T. M., et al. 1997, ApJ, 482, 114 Google Scholar
Ho, L. C., & Filippenko, A. V. 1996, ApJ, 472, 600 Google Scholar
Hunter, D. A., Light, R. M., Holtzman, J. A., Lynds, R., O'Neil, E. J. Jr., & Grillmair, C. J. 1997, ApJ, 478, 124 Google Scholar
Hunter, D. A., Shaya, E. J., Holtzman, J. A., Light, R. M., O'Neil, E. J. Jr., & Lynds, R. 1995, ApJ, 448, 179 Google Scholar
Kinney, A., Bohlin, R., Calzetti, D., Panagia, N., & Wyse, R. 1993, ApJS, 86, 5 Google Scholar
Lançon, A., & Rocca-Volmerange, B. 1992, A&AS, 96, 593 Google Scholar
Lançon, A. 1996, New Astron., 1, 215 Google Scholar
Leitherer, C., Robert, C., & Heckman, T. M. 1995, ApJS, 99, 173 Google Scholar
Leitherer, C., Vacca, W. D., Conti, P. S., Filippenko, A. V., Robert, C., & Sargent, W. L. W. 1996, ApJ, 465, 717 Google Scholar
Mas-Hesse, J. M., & Kunth, D. 1991, A&AS, 88, 399 Google Scholar
Massey, P., Johnson, K. E., & DeGioia-Eastwood, K. 1995a, ApJ, 454, 151 Google Scholar
Massey, P., Lang, C. C., DeGioia-Eastwood, K., & Garmany, C. D. 1995b, ApJ, 438, 188 Google Scholar
Miller, G. E., & Scalo, J. M. 1979, ApJS, 41, 513 Google Scholar
Origlia, L., Moorwood, A. F. M., & Oliva, E. 1993, A&A, 280, 536 Google Scholar
Perry, J. J., & Dyson, J. E. 1985, MNRAS, 213, 665 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puxley, P. J., Doyon, R., & Ward, M. J. 1997, ApJ, 476, 120 Google Scholar
Rieke, G. H., Lebofsky, M. J., Thompson, R. I., Low, F. J., & Tokunaga, A. T. 1980, ApJ, 238, 24 Google Scholar
Rieke, G. H., Loken, K., Rieke, M. J., & Tamblyn, P. 1993, ApJ, 412, 99 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robert, C., Leitherer, C., & Heckman, T. M. 1993, ApJ, 418, 749 Google Scholar
Salpeter, E. E. 1955, ApJ, 121, 161 Google Scholar
Sanders, D. B. 1997, in Starburst Activity in Galaxies, ed. Franco, J., Terlevich, R., & Serrano, A., Rev. Mex. Astron. Astrofis. Conf. Ser., 6, 42 Google Scholar
Sanders, D. B., & Mirabel, I. F. 1996, ARAA, 34, 749 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Satyapal, S., et al. 1995, ApJ, 448, 611 Google Scholar
Satyapal, S., et al. 1997, ApJ, 483, 148 Google Scholar
Scalo, J. M. 1986, Fund. Cosm. Phys., 11, 1 Google Scholar
Soifer, B. T., et al. 1987, ApJ, 320, 238 Google Scholar
Stasińska, G. 1990, in From Stars to Galaxies: The Impact of Stellar Physics on Galaxy Evolution ed. Leitherer, C., et al. (San Francisco: ASP), 232 Google Scholar
Stasińska, G., & Leitherer, C. 1996, ApJS, 107, 427 Google Scholar
Telles, E., & Terlevich, R. 1997, MNRAS, 286, 183 Google Scholar
Tinsley, B. M. 1980, Fund. Cosm. Phys., 5, 287 Google Scholar
Wright, G. S., Joseph, R. D., Robertson, N. A., James, P. A., & Meikle, W. P. S. 1988, MNRAS, 233, 1 Google Scholar