The low-mass end of the IMF

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent observational findings on the substellar initial mass function (IMF) in various environments, emphasizing the importance of these results for understanding star formation processes.

Contribution

It synthesizes recent observational data on the low-mass end of the IMF across different regions, highlighting challenges for star formation theories.

Findings

Brown dwarf populations characterized in multiple environments

Substellar IMF consistent across star forming regions and clusters

Implications for star formation models and theories

Abstract

The rapid advances in infrared detector technology over the past decades have impelled the development of wide-field instruments, and shaped our view of the cold universe. Large scale surveys in our Galaxy have discovered hundreds of brown dwarfs enabling the characterisation of the mass function in the substellar regime. I will review the most recent observational results concerning the substellar IMF derived in star forming regions, open clusters, and the field, that must be reproduced and explained by any successful star formation theory.