Top-Heavy Initial Mass Function of Star Clusters near the Galactic Centre

  • Park, So-Myoung (School of Space Research, Kyung Hee University) ;
  • Goodwin, Simon P. (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield) ;
  • Kim, Sungsoo S. (School of Space Research, Kyung Hee University)
  • Published : 2018.10.10

Abstract

Star clusters are important in understanding star formation. In star-forming regions, the number of stars with mass forms with an initial mass function (IMF), i.e. Chabrier, Salpeter, Kroupa, etc. In our simulations, initially sub-virial fractal star clusters evolve to become surviving sub-regions in strong tidal fields. We investigate the slope of the mass function (MF) of these sub-regions with time near the Galactic centre (GC). These sub-regions would appear to have a top-heavy IMF at ~ 2 Myr. Therefore, although our star-forming region near the GC has a normal IMF, stars in surviving 'clusters' can have a top-heavy 'IMF' due to the violent environment.

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