Why should Models of Dwarf Galaxy Evolution care about the Initial Mass Function at low Star-formation Rates?

TL;DR

This study investigates how deviations from a standard initial mass function at low star-formation rates influence dwarf galaxy evolution, focusing on feedback effects, star formation regulation, and chemical signatures through 3D chemo-dynamical simulations.

Contribution

It introduces and compares two IMF models in dwarf galaxy simulations, highlighting their impact on feedback, star formation, and chemical abundance patterns, which was not previously explored in detail.

Findings

Truncated IMF results in more supernovae II events.

Filled IMF regulates star formation more strongly.

Different IMFs produce distinct abundance ratios.

Abstract

When star clusters are formed at low star-formation rates (SFRs), their stellar initial mass function (IMF) can hardly be filled continuously with stars at each mass. This lack holds for massive stars and is observationally verified by the correlation between star-cluster mass and its most massive cluster star. Since galaxy evolution is strongly affected by massive stars, numerical models should account for this lack. Because a filled IMF is mostly applied even when only fractions of massive stars form, here we investigate by 3D chemo-dynamical simulations of isolated dwarf galaxies how deviations from a standard IMF in star clusters affect the evolution. We compare two different IMF recipes, a filled IMF with one truncated at a maximum mass at which a single complete star forms. Attention is given to energetic and chemical feedback by massive stars. Since their energy release is mass dependent but steeper than the negative IMF slope, the energetic feedback retains a positive mass dependence, so that a filled IMF regulates SF stronger than truncated IMFs, though only stellar number fractions exist. The higher SFR of the truncated IMF in the simulation leads to more supernovae II (SNeII), driving galactic winds. Whether this results from the model-inherent larger SFR is questioned and therefore analytically explored. This shows the expected result for Lyman continuum, but that the total SNII energy release is equal for both IMF modes, while the power is smaller for the truncated IMF. Reasonably, the different IMFs leave fingerprints in abundance ratios of massive-to-intermediate-mass star elements.