The Low End of the Initial Mass Function in R136

Details The Low End of the Initial Mass Function in R136 The Low End of the Initial Mass Function in R136

Sep 1998

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998aas...192.8401n&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 192nd AAS Meeting, #84.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 30, p.1157

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

5

Scientific paper

We report the result of a study in which we have reconstructed very deep broadband V and I WFPC2 images of R136 cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud from the HST archive, with the objective to sample the luminosity function below the detection limit of 2.8 solar masses previously published by Hunter et al. (1995, 1996). In the new deeper images, we detect stars down to a limiting magnitude of 24.7, and identify a population of red stars evenly distributed in the surrounding of the R136 cluster. A comparison with the evolutionary tracks from Bernasconi (1996) indicates that these red objects are pre-main sequence stars in the mass range 2 - 0.8 solar masses. We construct the Initial Mass Function in the 0.8 - 6 solar masses range and find that, after correcting for incompleteness, the IMF shows a definite flattening in the profile below 3 solar masses. We discuss the implications of this result for the R136 cluster and for our understanding of the starburst formation and evolution in general.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The Low End of the Initial Mass Function in R136 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Low End of the Initial Mass Function in R136, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Low End of the Initial Mass Function in R136 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-810434