The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society (천문학회보)
- Volume 44 Issue 2
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- Pages.50.3-50.3
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- 2019
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- 1226-2692(pISSN)
Making top-heavy IMFs from normal IMFs near the Galactic Centre
- Park, So-Myoung (School of Space Research, Kyung Hee University) ;
- Goodwin, Simon P. (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield) ;
- Kim, Sungsoo S. (School of Space Research, Kyung Hee University)
- Published : 2019.10.14
Abstract
We show that dynamical evolution in a strong (Galactic Centre-like) tidal field can create clusters that would appear to have very top-heavy IMFs. The tidal disruption of single star forming events can leave several bound 'clusters' spread along 20~pc of the orbit within 1-2 Myr. These surviving (sub)clusters tend to contain an over-abundance of massive stars, with low-mass stars tending to be spread along the whole 'tidal arm'. Therefore observing a cluster in a strong tidal field with a top-heavy IMF does not mean the stars formed with a top-heavy IMF.
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