ALMA-IMF

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is critical to our understanding of star formation and the effects of young stars on their environment. On large scales, it enables us to use tracers such as UV or Hα emission to estimate the star formation rate of a system and interpret unresolved star clusters across the Universe. So far, there is little firm evidence of large-scale variations of the IMF, which is thus generally considered “universal”. Stars form from cores, and it is now possible to estimate core masses and compare the core mass function (CMF) with the IMF, which it presumably produces. The goal of the ALMA-IMF large programme is to measure the core mass function at high linear resolution (2700 au) in 15 typical Milky Way protoclusters spanning a mass range of 2.5 × 10 3 to 32.7 × 10 3 M ⊙ . In this work, we used two different core extraction algorithms to extract ≈680 gravitationally bound cores from these 15 protoclusters. We adopted a per core temperature using the temperature estimate from the point-process mapping Bayesian method (PPMAP). A power-law fit to the CMF of the sub-sample of cores above the 1.64 M ⊙ completeness limit (330 cores) through the maximum likelihood estimate technique yields a slope of 1.97 ± 0.06, which is significantly flatter than the 2.35 Salpeter slope. Assuming a self-similar mapping between the CMF and the IMF, this result implies that these 15 high-mass protoclusters will generate atypical IMFs. This sample currently is the largest sample that was produced and analysed self-consistently, derived at matched physical resolution, with per core temperature estimates, and cores as massive as 150 M ⊙ . We provide both the raw source extraction catalogues and the catalogues listing the source size, temperature, mass, spectral indices, and so on in the 15 protoclusters.

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Publication Details

Journal
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Published
2024-08-19
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202345986
Citations
23
Primary Topic
Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
7.62

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article

ALMA-IMF

L. Bronfman, P. Sanhueza, M. González, N. Cunningham et al.
23 citations
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
7.62
article

ALMA-IMF

L. Bronfman, P. Sanhueza, M. González, N. Cunningham, G. Busquet, T. Nony, A. P. M. Towner, F. Louvet, Roberto Galván-Madrid, P. Dell’Ova, J. Braine, M. Valeille-Manet, A. Men’shchikov, Brian Svoboda, A. López-Sepulcre, F. Herpin, E. Moraux, N. Brouillet, María Fernández‐López, F. Motte, T. Csengeri, James Di Francesco, B. Thomasson, M. Bonfand, P. Hennebelle, F. Olguin, Amelia M. Stutz, A. Ginsburg, P. Lesaffre, A. Gusdorf, L. Maud, Y. Pouteau, B. Lefloch, Hongli Liu, P. Didelon, J. Salinas, S. Bontemps, R. H. Álverez-Gutiérrez, V. Huei-Ru, X. Lu, Tapas Baug
article en
23 citations

Abstract

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is critical to our understanding of star formation and the effects of young stars on their environment. On large scales, it enables us to use tracers such as UV or Hα emission to estimate the star formation rate of a system and interpret unresolved star clusters across the Universe. So far, there is little firm evidence of large-scale variations of the IMF, which is thus generally considered “universal”. Stars form from cores, and it is now possible to estimate core masses and compare the core mass function (CMF) with the IMF, which it presumably produces. The goal of the ALMA-IMF large programme is to measure the core mass function at high linear resolution (2700 au) in 15 typical Milky Way protoclusters spanning a mass range of 2.5 × 10 3 to 32.7 × 10 3 M ⊙ . In this work, we used two different core extraction algorithms to extract ≈680 gravitationally bound cores from these 15 protoclusters. We adopted a per core temperature using the temperature estimate from the point-process mapping Bayesian method (PPMAP). A power-law fit to the CMF of the sub-sample of cores above the 1.64 M ⊙ completeness limit (330 cores) through the maximum likelihood estimate technique yields a slope of 1.97 ± 0.06, which is significantly flatter than the 2.35 Salpeter slope. Assuming a self-similar mapping between the CMF and the IMF, this result implies that these 15 high-mass protoclusters will generate atypical IMFs. This sample currently is the largest sample that was produced and analysed self-consistently, derived at matched physical resolution, with per core temperature estimates, and cores as massive as 150 M ⊙ . We provide both the raw source extraction catalogues and the catalogues listing the source size, temperature, mass, spectral indices, and so on in the 15 protoclusters.

Astronomy and AstrophysicsVol. 690
Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (CA), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Arizona (US), Université de Bordeaux (FR), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (AR), University of Concepción (CL), Yunnan University (CN), National Institutes of Natural Sciences (JP), The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI (JP), Université Paris Cité (FR), National Tsing Hua University (TW), National Radio Astronomy Observatory (US), Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (CN), Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory (IT), Observatoire de Paris (FR), École Normale Supérieure - PSL (FR), University of Florida (US), Sorbonne Université (FR), Clínica Las Condes (CL), Astrophysique, Instrumentation et Modélisation (FR), Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (ES), Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (FR), Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (FR), SKA Observatory (GB), CEA Paris-Saclay (FR), Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía (AR), National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (JP), University of Virginia (US), University of Chile (CL), Universitat de Barcelona (ES), S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences (IN), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR)
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, European Commission, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Université de Bordeaux, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, European Research Council, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico, Tecnológico y de Innovación Tecnológica, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Astrophysics Division, HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
7.62
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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