Statistical Confirmation of a Stellar Upper Mass Limit

Preprint

7 January 2005

preprint
Published by arXiv in arXiv

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.astro-ph/0501135

Abstract

We derive the expectation value for the maximum stellar mass (m_max) in an ensemble of N stars, as a function of the IMF upper-mass cutoff (m_up) and N. We statistically demonstrate that the upper IMF of the local massive star census observed thus far in the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds clearly exhibits a universal upper mass cutoff around 120 - 200 M_sun for a Salpeter IMF, although the result is more ambiguous for a steeper IMF.

Keywords

STATISTICAL CONFIRMATION
STELLAR UPPER
MASS CUTOFF
MASS LIMIT
UPPER MASS
STARS
LOCAL
IMF

All Related Versions

Version 1, 2005-01-07, ArXiv
Published version: The Astrophysical Journal, 620 (1), L43.

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