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| Paper: |
The Slope of the Upper End of the IMF and the Upper Mass Limit: An Observer's Perspective |
| Volume: |
440, UP2010: Have Observations Revealed a Variable Upper End of the Initial Mass Function? |
| Page: |
29 |
| Authors: |
Massey, P. |
| Abstract: |
There are various ways of measuring the slope of the upper end of the initial mass function (IMF). Arguably the most direct of
these is to place stars on the H-R diagram and compare their positions with stellar evolutionary models.
Even so, the masses one infers from this depend upon the exact methodology used. I briefly discuss
some of the caveats and go through a brief error analysis. I conclude that the current data suggest that the IMF slopes are the same to
within the errors. Similarly the determination of the upper mass “limit'' is dependent upon how well one
can determine the masses of the most massive stars within a cluster. The recent finding by Crowther et al. (2010)
invalidates the claim that there is a 150M☉ upper limit to the IMF, but this is really not surprising given the weakness of the previous evidence. |
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