New research suggests initial mass function for galaxies not universal
Thursday, April 26, 2012 - 06:30
in Astronomy & Space
(Phys.org) -- Over the past several years there has been debate in the astrophysics community regarding the distribution of stars in galaxies, specifically their mass range. Astronomers use an initial mass function (IMF) to calculate the numbers of different kinds of stars in any given galaxy, but whats not been clear is whether the IMF applies to all galaxies of all types. Now, a large international group of astronomers has found after studying data form 260 galaxies that the distribution of stars in early galaxies appears to be different from the distribution of stars in galaxies that formed later in time, casting doubt on the dependability of the IMF. They report their findings in their paper published in the journal Nature.