The stellar initial mass function of nearby young moving groups

The solar neighbourhood is populated by nearby ($< 200 $), young ($< 100 $) moving groups (NYMGs) of stars, whose origins are still a matter of debate. One plausible explanation is that they are remnants of individual stellar clusters and associations that are currently dispersing throughout the galactic disc. pc Myr We aim to derive the initial mass function (IMF) of a large sample of NYMGs. We developed and applied an algorithm that uses photometric and astrometric data from DR3 to detect NYMGs as over-densities in a kinematic space, whose members distribute along young isochrones. We inferred individual masses from the photometry of both the detected and the previously known candidates. We estimated the IMFs for 33 groups, 30 of them for the first time, in an average mass range 0.1<m/M_⊙<5, with some groups going as low as 0.02 M_⊙ and as high as 10 M_⊙. We parameterised these IMFs using a log-normal for m<1 M_⊙ and a power-law for m>1 M_⊙. Gaia We detected 4166 source candidate members of 44 known groups, including 2545 new candidates. We recovered 44-54% of the literature candidates and estimated a contamination rate from old field stars of 16-24%. The candidates of the detected groups distribute along young isochrones, which suggests that they are potential members of NYMGs. Parameterisations of both the average of the 33 IMFs based on our detections (m_c=0.25 M_⊙, σ_c=0.45 and α=-2.26 and the one based on the known candidates from the literature (m_c=0.22 M_⊙, σ_c=0.45 and α=-2.45 are in agreement with the IMF parameterisation of the solar neighbourhood and young stellar associations. Our parameterisation of the average IMF, together with the distribution of the detected group members along young isochrones offer strong evidence suggesting that the NYMGs are remnants of individual stellar associations and clusters. We confirm that there are no systematic biases in our detection and in the literature in the range of 0.1<m/M_⊙<10.

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Publication Details

Journal
Springer Link (Chiba Institute of Technology)
Published
2026-01-19
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202557920/pdf
Primary Topic
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
Type
article
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article

The stellar initial mass function of nearby young moving groups

John Donor, Cecilia Mateu, Genaro Suárez, Rafael Bertolotto-Stefanelli et al.
Springer Link (Chiba Institute of Technology)
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
article

The stellar initial mass function of nearby young moving groups

John Donor, Cecilia Mateu, Genaro Suárez, Rafael Bertolotto-Stefanelli, Carlos Román Zúñiga, Jonathan Gagné
article en

Abstract

The solar neighbourhood is populated by nearby ($< 200 $), young ($< 100 $) moving groups (NYMGs) of stars, whose origins are still a matter of debate. One plausible explanation is that they are remnants of individual stellar clusters and associations that are currently dispersing throughout the galactic disc. pc Myr We aim to derive the initial mass function (IMF) of a large sample of NYMGs. We developed and applied an algorithm that uses photometric and astrometric data from DR3 to detect NYMGs as over-densities in a kinematic space, whose members distribute along young isochrones. We inferred individual masses from the photometry of both the detected and the previously known candidates. We estimated the IMFs for 33 groups, 30 of them for the first time, in an average mass range 0.1<m/M_⊙<5, with some groups going as low as 0.02 M_⊙ and as high as 10 M_⊙. We parameterised these IMFs using a log-normal for m<1 M_⊙ and a power-law for m>1 M_⊙. Gaia We detected 4166 source candidate members of 44 known groups, including 2545 new candidates. We recovered 44-54% of the literature candidates and estimated a contamination rate from old field stars of 16-24%. The candidates of the detected groups distribute along young isochrones, which suggests that they are potential members of NYMGs. Parameterisations of both the average of the 33 IMFs based on our detections (m_c=0.25 M_⊙, σ_c=0.45 and α=-2.26 and the one based on the known candidates from the literature (m_c=0.22 M_⊙, σ_c=0.45 and α=-2.45 are in agreement with the IMF parameterisation of the solar neighbourhood and young stellar associations. Our parameterisation of the average IMF, together with the distribution of the detected group members along young isochrones offer strong evidence suggesting that the NYMGs are remnants of individual stellar associations and clusters. We confirm that there are no systematic biases in our detection and in the literature in the range of 0.1<m/M_⊙<10.

Springer Link (Chiba Institute of Technology)
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