2000/07/05 by K. L. Luhman · 6 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Brown dwarf #Initial mass function #Low Mass #Physics #Sky #Solar mass #Star formation #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/317232
published as Astrophys.J.544:1044-1055,2000 · to be published in The Astrophysical Journal, 24 pages, 6 figures, also found at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~kluhman/taurus/
arxiv created 2000/07/05 · openalex publication_date 2000/12/01 · arxiv updated 2017/08/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
By combining deep optical imaging and infrared spectroscopy with data from the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) and from previous studies (e.g., Briceño et al.), I have measured the initial mass function (IMF) for a reddening-limited sample in four fields in the Taurus star-forming region. This IMF is representative of the young populations within these fields for masses above 0.02 M ☉ . Relative to the similarly derived IMF for the Trapezium Cluster (Luhman et al.), the IMF for Taurus exhibits a modest deficit of stars above 1 solar mass (i.e., steeper slope), the same turnover mass (~0.8 M ☉ ), and a significant deficit of brown dwarfs. If the IMF in Taurus were the same as that in the Trapezium, 12.8 ± 1.8 brown dwarfs (>0.02 M ☉ ) are expected in these Taurus fields where only one brown dwarf candidate is found. These results are used to test theories of the IMF.