The Stellar IMF, Core Mass Function, & The Last-Crossing Distribution

TL;DR

This paper generalizes the excursion set formalism to derive the stellar initial mass function and core mass function, showing they are linked to the last-crossing distribution and aligning well with observations, while addressing limitations of previous models.

Contribution

It introduces an exact analytic solution for the last-crossing distribution applicable to ISM and cosmological studies, improving upon prior approximate models for the stellar IMF and CMF.

Findings

The model predicts the CMF and IMF consistent with observations.

The last-crossing distribution is key to understanding bound object mass spectra.

The model's adjustable parameter is the turbulent velocity power spectrum.

Abstract

Hennebelle & Chabrier 2008 (HC08) attempted to derive the stellar IMF as a consequence of turbulent density fluctuations, using an argument similar to Press & Schechter 1974 for Gaussian random fields. Like that example, however, this solution does not resolve the 'cloud in cloud' problem; it also does not extend to large scales that dominate the velocity/density fluctuations. In principle, these can change the results at the order-of-magnitude level. Here, we use the results from Hopkins 2011 (H11) to generalize the excursion set formalism and derive the exact solution in this regime. We argue that the stellar IMF and core mass function (CMF) should be associated with the last-crossing distribution, i.e. the mass spectrum of bound objects defined on the smallest scale on which they are self-gravitating. This differs from the first-crossing distribution (mass function on the largest self-gravitating scale) which is defined cosmologically and which H11 show corresponds to the GMC mass function in disks. We derive an analytic equation for the last-crossing distribution that can be used for an arbitrary collapse threshold in ISM and cosmological studies. With this, we show that the same model that predicts the GMC mass function and large-scale structure of galaxy disks also predicts the CMF (and by extrapolation IMF) in good agreement with observations. The only adjustable parameter in the model is the turbulent velocity power spectrum, which in the range p~5/3-2 gives similar results. We also use this to justify why the approximate solution in HC08 is reasonable (up to a normalization) over the CMF/IMF mass range; however there are significant corrections at intermediate and high masses. We discuss how the exact solutions here can be embedded into time-dependent models that follow density fluctuations, fragmentation, successive generations of star formation.