The IMF of the field population of 30 Doradus

Selman, F.; Melnick, J.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20042173

Cited by 21 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The color-magnitude stereogram (CMS; Selman et al 1999;Selman & Melnick 2005), provides a useful tool to visualize the data and the unreddened theoretical isochrones in the color−color−magnitude space. The Y − Z and X − Z projections are the (J − H) − K S and (H − K S ) − K S CMDs respectively, while the X − Y projection is just the (H − K S ) − (J − H) color−color diagram.…”

Section: The Bayesian Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As noted by Selman (2004), to avoid systematic effects in transforming broad-band photometry of reddened stars into a standard photometric system (e.g. Johnson, 2MASS, HST/NICMOS), one must work in the natural system defined by the instrument.…”

Section: The Naco Natural Photometric Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using an extended grid of simulations, Selman (2004) concluded that the solution is to work in the natural photometric system of the instrument, and to use models to calculate the reddening path in this system from the appropriate (in our case the Galactic) reddening law. Fitzpatrick (2004) presents a monochromatic extinction curve based on 2MASS JHK S photometry.…”

Section: The Reddening Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Johnson), so one is compelled to work in the natural photometric system of the instrument (Selman 2004). This means that the stellar models and the extinction law must be transformed or calculated for the same photometric system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The massive star initial mass function of the Arches cluster

Espinoza

Selman

Melnick

2009

A&A

Self Cite

151

228

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The massive Arches cluster near the Galactic center should be an ideal laboratory for investigating massive star formation under extreme conditions. But it comes at a high price: the cluster is hidden behind several tens of magnitudes of visual extinction. Severe crowding requires space or AO-assisted instruments to resolve the stellar populations, and even with the best instruments interpreting the data is far from direct. Several investigations using NICMOS and the most advanced AO imagers on the ground revealed an overall top-heavy IMF for the cluster, with a very flat IMF near the center. There are several effects, however, that could potentially bias these results, in particular the strong differential extinction and the problem of transforming the observations into a standard photometric system in the presence of strong reddening. We present new observations obtained with the NAOS-Conica (NACO) AO-imager on the VLT. The problem of photometric transformation is avoided by working in the natural photometric system of NACO, and we use a Bayesian approach to determine masses and reddenings from the broad-band IR colors. A global value of Γ = −1.1 ± 0.2 for the high-mass end (M > 10 M ) of the IMF is obtained, and we conclude that a power law of Salpeter slope cannot be discarded for the Arches cluster. The flattening of the IMF towards the center is confirmed, but is less severe than previously thought. We find Γ = −0.88 ± 0.20, which is incompatible with previous determinations. Within 0.4 pc we derive a total mass of ∼2.0(±0.6) × 10 4 M for the cluster and a central mass density ρ = 2(±0.4) × 10 5 M pc −3 that confirms Arches as the densest known young massive cluster in the Milky Way.

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Section: The Bayesian Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Naco Natural Photometric Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Reddening Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The massive star initial mass function of the Arches cluster

Espinoza

Selman

Melnick

2009

A&A

Self Cite

151

228

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“…So this issue is still very much under debate and may need observational improvement by (i) better constraining the true initial star-cluster mass function and (ii) improving the empirical m max (M ecl ) relation. Observational work is underway to test the IGIMF =IMF notion, and for example Selman & Melnick (2005) find the composite IMF to be flatter than the stellar IMF in the 30 Dor star-forming region, as predicted, but only with low-significance.…”

Section: Composite Populationsmentioning

confidence: 76%

The stellar initial mass function of metal-rich populations

Kroupa¹

2008

The Metal-Rich Universe

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Does the IMF vary? Is it significantly different in metal-rich environments than in metal-poor ones? Theoretical work predicts this to be the case. But in order to provide robust empirical evidence for this, the researcher must understand all possible biases affecting the derivation of the stellar mass function. Apart from the very difficult observational challenges, this turns out to be highly non-trivial relying on an exact understanding of how stars evolve, and how stellar populations in galaxies are assembled dynamically and how individual star clusters and associations evolve. N -body modelling is therefore an unavoidable tool in this game: the case can be made that without complete dynamical modelling of star clusters and associations any statements about the variation of the IMF with physical conditions are most probably wrong. The calculations that do exist demonstrate time and again that the IMF is invariant: There exists no statistically meaningful evidence for a variation of the IMF from metal-poor to metalrich populations. This means that currently existing star-formation theory fails to describe the stellar outcome. Indirect evidence, based on chemical evolution calculations, however indicate that extreme star-bursts that assembled bulges and elliptical galaxies may have had a top-heavy IMF.

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The star formation process in the Magellanic Clouds

Oliveira

2008

Proc. IAU

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Abstract. The Magellanic Clouds offer unique opportunities to study star formation both on the global scales of an interacting system of gas-rich galaxies, as well as on the scales of individual star-forming clouds. The interstellar media of the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds and their connecting bridge, span a range in (low) metallicities and gas density. This allows us to study star formation near the critical density and gain an understanding of how tidal dwarfs might form; the low metallicity of the SMC in particular is typical of galaxies during the early phases of their assembly, and studies of star formation in the SMC provide a stepping stone to understand star formation at high redshift where these processes can not be directly observed. In this review, I introduce the different environments encountered in the Magellanic System and compare these with the Schmidt-Kennicutt law and the predicted efficiencies of various chemophysical processes. I then concentrate on three aspects that are of particular importance: the chemistry of the embedded stages of star formation, the Initial Mass Function, and feedback effects from massive stars and its ability to trigger further star formation.

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The IMF of the field population of 30 Doradus

Cited by 21 publications

References 36 publications

The massive star initial mass function of the Arches cluster

The massive star initial mass function of the Arches cluster

The stellar initial mass function of metal-rich populations

The star formation process in the Magellanic Clouds

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