10 March 2011

Speaker: Charlie Conroy (Harvard/CfA)

Title:The Stellar Initial Mass Function is not Universal"

Abstract: The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is an essential ingredient in many areas of astrophysics. It is often believed to be 'universal', meaning that it does not vary with environment or epoch, though there is scant evidence for this assumption. In this talk I will present evidence that nearby massive elliptical galaxies contain substantially more low mass stars than in our own Galaxy. The IMF therefore appears to not be universal. I will discuss several implications of this conclusion, and several directions for future work.

Video of the Presentation (Talks can be viewed with RealPlayer. Free download is available from www.real.com )