Effects of physical conditions on the stellar initial mass function: The low-metallicity star-forming region Sh 2-209

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Zinnkann, Marie, Wirth, Henriette, Kroupa, Pavel
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866913308199616512
author Zinnkann, Marie
Wirth, Henriette
Kroupa, Pavel
author_facet Zinnkann, Marie
Wirth, Henriette
Kroupa, Pavel
contents Recent work suggested that the variation of the initial mass function (IMF) of stars depends on the physical conditions, notably, the metallicity and gas density. We investigated the properties of two clusters, namely the main cluster (MC) and the subcluster (SC), in the low-metallicity HII region Sh 2-209 (S209) based on recently derived IMFs. We tested three previously published correlations using previous observations: the top-heaviness of the IMF in dependence on metallicity, the half-mass radius, and the most massive star in dependence on the stellar mass of the embedded clusters. For this region, two different galactocentric distances, namely 10.5 kpc and 18 kpc, were considered, where an age-distance-degeneracy was found for the previously determined IMF to be consistent with other formulated metallicity and density dependent IMFs. The determined half-mass radius (0.080 +/- 0.005) pc and the embedded cluster density (0.2 +/- 0.1) 10^6 Msun pc^-3 for the MC with an age of 0.5 Myr in S209 assuming a galactocentric distance of 18 kpc support the assumption that a low-metallicity environment results in a denser cluster, which leads to a top-heavy IMF. Thus, all three tests are consistent with the previously published correlations. The results for S209 are placed in the context with the IMF determination within the metal-poor cluster in the star-forming region NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_09405
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Effects of physical conditions on the stellar initial mass function: The low-metallicity star-forming region Sh 2-209
Zinnkann, Marie
Wirth, Henriette
Kroupa, Pavel
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Recent work suggested that the variation of the initial mass function (IMF) of stars depends on the physical conditions, notably, the metallicity and gas density. We investigated the properties of two clusters, namely the main cluster (MC) and the subcluster (SC), in the low-metallicity HII region Sh 2-209 (S209) based on recently derived IMFs. We tested three previously published correlations using previous observations: the top-heaviness of the IMF in dependence on metallicity, the half-mass radius, and the most massive star in dependence on the stellar mass of the embedded clusters. For this region, two different galactocentric distances, namely 10.5 kpc and 18 kpc, were considered, where an age-distance-degeneracy was found for the previously determined IMF to be consistent with other formulated metallicity and density dependent IMFs. The determined half-mass radius (0.080 +/- 0.005) pc and the embedded cluster density (0.2 +/- 0.1) 10^6 Msun pc^-3 for the MC with an age of 0.5 Myr in S209 assuming a galactocentric distance of 18 kpc support the assumption that a low-metallicity environment results in a denser cluster, which leads to a top-heavy IMF. Thus, all three tests are consistent with the previously published correlations. The results for S209 are placed in the context with the IMF determination within the metal-poor cluster in the star-forming region NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud.
title Effects of physical conditions on the stellar initial mass function: The low-metallicity star-forming region Sh 2-209
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.09405