Institut für Astronomie und AstrophysikAbteilung AstronomieWaldhäuser Str. 64, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany |
IMF
Compute an N-component power-law logarithmic initial mass function
The function is normalized so that the total mass distribution equals one solar mass.
psi = IMF( mass, expon, mass_range )
mass - mass in units of solar masses (scalar or vector) Converted to floating point if necessary expon - power law exponent, usually negative, scalar or vector The number of values in expon equals the number of different power-law components in the IMF A Saltpeter IMF has a scalar value of expon = -1.35 mass_range - vector containing the mass upper and lower limits of the IMF and masses where the IMF exponent changes. The number of values in mass_range should be one more than in expon. The values in mass_range should be monotonically increasing.
psi - mass function, number of stars per unit logarithimic mass interval evaluated for supplied masses
The mass spectrum f(m) giving the number of stars per unit mass interval is related to psi(m) by m*f(m) = psi(m). The normalization condition is that the integral of psi(m) between the upper and lower mass limit is unity.
(1) Print the number of stars per unit mass interval at 3 Msun for a Salpeter (expon = -1.35) IMF, with a mass range from 0.1 MSun to 110 Msun. IDL> print, imf(3, -1.35, [0.1, 110] ) / 3 (2) Lequex et al. (1981, A & A 103, 305) describes an IMF with an exponent of -0.6 between 0.007 Msun and 1.8 Msun, and an exponent of -1.7 between 1.8 Msun and 110 Msun. Plot the mass spectrum f(m) IDL> m = [0.01,0.1,indgen(110) + 1 ] ;Make a mass vector IDL> expon = [-0.6, -1.7] ;Exponent Vector IDL> mass_range = [ 0.007, 1.8, 110] ;Mass range IDL> plot_oo, m, imf(m, expon, mass_range ) / m
IMF first calculates the constants to multiply the power-law components such that the IMF is continuous at the intermediate masses, and that the total mass integral is one solar mass. The IMF is then calculated for the supplied masses. Also see Scalo (1986, Fund. of Cosmic Physics, 11, 1)
None
Written W. Landsman August, 1989 Set masses LE mass_u rather than LT mass_u August, 1992 Major rewrite to accept arbitary power-law components April 1993 Convert EXPON to float if necessary W. Landsman March 1996 Converted to IDL V5.0 W. Landsman September 1997 Remove call to DATATYPE, V5.3 version W. Landsman August 2000
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