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Paper: |
The Initial Mass Function and Formation History of Stars in the Galactic Centre |
Volume: |
439, The Galactic Center: a Window to the Nuclear Environment of Disk Galaxies |
Page: |
96 |
Authors: |
Baumgardt, H.; Löckmann, U.; Kroupa, P. |
Abstract: |
We combine the results of stellar evolution models and recent observations
on the total luminosity and mass of stars in the Galactic Centre to
determine the most likely form of the IMF of stars in the Galactic Centre.
We find that the observations of the Galactic Centre are well consistent
with continuous star formation following a canonical IMF and that the
observed luminosity in the central parsec is too high to be explained by a
long-standing top-heavy IMF. We conclude that if the young stellar discs
prove to follow a top-heavy IMF, the circumstances that led to their
formation must be very rare, since these have not affected most of the
central cluster. |
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