What is the True Core Mass Function?

Details What is the True Core Mass Function? What is the True Core Mass Function?

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...20919803l&link_type=abstract

2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, #198.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society,

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

The cause of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) has been a difficult subject in the field of star formation. Given the variation in conditions of star forming regions, the universality of IMF is surprising. In the recent decade, one line of investigation has focused on the mass function of dense molecular cores (CMF), which are precursors of new stars. The majority of these studies claim to find a CMF similar to IMF, which has a slope similar to that of the Salpeter IMF and flatterns toward lower mass end. These results suggest a uniform star formation efficiencies in cores within a large range of mass.
We have reanalyzed the observed CMFs from literature with emphasis on the statistical significance of the model fits. We conclude that the previous, essentially, two power law fit of the CMF is not convincing. Many existing data can be modeled by a single power law of a slope flatter than that of the Salpeter IMF. Given the vast variation in conditions and masses of cores included in this study, our result suggests that the initial mass function is shaped later in the process of star formation than the core accretion phase.
We also caution against any direct power law fit to a cumulative mass function. More sophisticated procedures, one of which we will introduce, would be necessary to derive a meaningful slope for the CMF.

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