Stellar initial mass function in the 100-pc solar neighbourhood

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Auteurs principaux: Wang, Yu-Ting, Liu, Chao, Li, Jiadong
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Wang, Yu-Ting
Liu, Chao
Li, Jiadong
author_facet Wang, Yu-Ting
Liu, Chao
Li, Jiadong
contents The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is among the most fundamental distributions in astrophysics, defined as the mass spectrum of stars produced in a single star-formation event. Even in the solar neighbourhood, where measurements can be conducted via star counting, disentangling the IMF from observational effects remains challenging. In this work we introduce a new parametrisation of the stellar IMF in the 100-pc solar neighbourhood, leveraging the high-precision astrometric and photometric data from \textsl{Gaia} DR3: we model the colour-magnitude diagram of the field star population while accounting for observational uncertainties, Malmquist bias, Lutz-Kelker bias, variations in the mass-luminosity relation arising from metallicity differences, and the effects of unresolved binaries. In particular, we synthesise the binary population with a process imitating the dynamical evolution observed in star clusters to enforce that all components are drawn from the same IMF, while simultaneously recovering the observed present-day mass-ratio distribution. We determine an averaged stellar IMF over $0.25<m<1.0~M_{\odot}$ that aligns with canonical IMFs but achieves significantly tighter constraints: $α_1=0.75^{+0.06}_{-0.04}$, $α_2=2.07^{+0.04}_{-0.03}$, and a break point at $m_{\mathrm{break}}=0.40^{+0.01}_{-0.01}$ $\mathrm{M_{\odot}}$. Our inference also yields an averaged binary fraction over $0.25<m<1.0~M_{\odot}$ of approximately 26\%, and constrains the \textsl{Gaia} DR3 angular resolution to $1.11^{+0.11}_{-0.08}$ arcsec. We also provide the $ξ$-parameter for our IMF, which is $0.5070_{-0.0096}^{+0.0068}$, to facilitate direct comparison with other IMF determinations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_12987
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Stellar initial mass function in the 100-pc solar neighbourhood
Wang, Yu-Ting
Liu, Chao
Li, Jiadong
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is among the most fundamental distributions in astrophysics, defined as the mass spectrum of stars produced in a single star-formation event. Even in the solar neighbourhood, where measurements can be conducted via star counting, disentangling the IMF from observational effects remains challenging. In this work we introduce a new parametrisation of the stellar IMF in the 100-pc solar neighbourhood, leveraging the high-precision astrometric and photometric data from \textsl{Gaia} DR3: we model the colour-magnitude diagram of the field star population while accounting for observational uncertainties, Malmquist bias, Lutz-Kelker bias, variations in the mass-luminosity relation arising from metallicity differences, and the effects of unresolved binaries. In particular, we synthesise the binary population with a process imitating the dynamical evolution observed in star clusters to enforce that all components are drawn from the same IMF, while simultaneously recovering the observed present-day mass-ratio distribution. We determine an averaged stellar IMF over $0.25<m<1.0~M_{\odot}$ that aligns with canonical IMFs but achieves significantly tighter constraints: $α_1=0.75^{+0.06}_{-0.04}$, $α_2=2.07^{+0.04}_{-0.03}$, and a break point at $m_{\mathrm{break}}=0.40^{+0.01}_{-0.01}$ $\mathrm{M_{\odot}}$. Our inference also yields an averaged binary fraction over $0.25<m<1.0~M_{\odot}$ of approximately 26\%, and constrains the \textsl{Gaia} DR3 angular resolution to $1.11^{+0.11}_{-0.08}$ arcsec. We also provide the $ξ$-parameter for our IMF, which is $0.5070_{-0.0096}^{+0.0068}$, to facilitate direct comparison with other IMF determinations.
title Stellar initial mass function in the 100-pc solar neighbourhood
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.12987