Observational Evidence for a Different Initial Mass Function in the Early Galaxy
- 1 June 2005
- journal article
- Published by American Astronomical Society in The Astrophysical Journal
- Vol. 625 (2) , 833-837
- https://doi.org/10.1086/428105
Abstract
The unexpected high incidence of carbon-enhanced, s-process enriched unevolved stars amongst extremely metal-poor stars in the halo provides a significant constraint on the Initial Mass Function (IMF) in the early Galaxy. We argue that these objects are evidence for the past existence of a large population of intermediate-mass stars, and conclude that the IMF in the early Galaxy was different from the present, and shifted toward higher masses.Comment: 14 pages, 1 color figure, accepted for publication on ApKeywords
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