W. J. Maciel -
Abstract #75
DETERMINATION OF THE IMF ON THE BASIS OF A RECENTLY DERIVED SFR IN THE SOLAR NEIGHBOURHOOD
W. J. Maciel, H. J. Rocha-Pinto
Monthly Notices Roy. Astron. Soc. 299, 889-894 (1998) The initial mass function (IMF) in the solar neighbourhood is determined on the basis of a recently derived history of the star formation rate (SFR) which shows the presence of a star formation burst about 8 Gyr ago. The observed present day mass function (PDMF) is considered and the average past distribution of stars of a given mass is estimated. Two cases are considered, namely (i) constant star formation rate, and (ii) variable star formation rate as derived from the new metallicity distribution of G dwarfs. The resulting IMF is compared with previous determinations by Scalo (1986) and Kroupa et al. (1993), and the variation with stellar mass of the slope of the IMF is compared with reference determinations in the literature.
