The universal variability of the stellar initial mass function probed by the TIMER survey
Metadatos
Mostrar el registro completo del ítemAutor
Martín-Navarro, Ignacio; Lorenzo-Cáceres, A. de; Gadotti, Dimitri A.; Méndez Abreu, J.; Falcón-Barroso, Jesús; Sánchez-Blázquez, P.; Coelho, Paula; Neumann, Justus; van de Ven, Glenn; Pérez Martín, María IsabelEditorial
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Materia
Galaxy: formation–galaxies evolution–galaxies
Fecha
2023-12-11Referencia bibliográfica
Martín Navarro, I. et. al. A&A, 684, A110 (2024). [https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202348060]
Patrocinador
PID2019-107427GB-C32 and PID2019-107427GB-C31 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; STFC grants ST/T000244/1 and ST/X001075/1, based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory under ESO programme 097.B-0640(A); Viera y Clavijo Senior program funded by ACIISI and ULL. J.M.A. and A.d.L.C; Agencia Estatal de Investigación del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) under grant (PID2021- 128131NB-I00); European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) “A way of making Europe”; European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 694343)Resumen
The debate about the universality of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) revolves around two competing lines of evidence. While
measurements in the Milky Way, an archetypal spiral galaxy, seem to support an invariant IMF, the observed properties of massive
early-type galaxies (ETGs) favor an IMF somehow sensitive to the local star-formation conditions. However, the fundamental
methodological and physical di erences between the two approaches have hampered a comprehensive understanding of IMF variations.
Here, we describe an improved modeling scheme that, for the first time, allows consistent IMF measurements across stellar
populations with di erent ages and complex star-formation histories (SFHs). Making use of the exquisite MUSE optical data from the
TIMER survey and powered by the MILES stellar population models, we show the age, metallicity, [Mg/Fe], and IMF slope maps of
the inner regions of NGC3351, a spiral galaxy with a mass similar to that of the Milky Way. The measured IMF values in NGC3351
follow the expectations from a Milky Way-like IMF, although they simultaneously show systematic and spatially coherent variations,
particularly for low-mass stars. In addition, our stellar population analysis reveals the presence of metal-poor and Mg-enhanced starforming
regions that appear to be predominantly enriched by the stellar ejecta of core-collapse supernovae. Our findings therefore
showcase the potential of detailed studies of young stellar populations to provide the means to better understand the early stages of
galaxy evolution and, in particular, the origin of the observed IMF variations beyond and within the Milky Way.