{
  "id": "1212.0939",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2012-12-05T06:23:19.000Z",
  "updated": "2012-12-05T06:23:19.000Z",
  "title": "On the function describing the stellar initial mass function",
  "authors": [
    "Thomas Maschberger"
  ],
  "comment": "8 pages, 9 figures; MNRAS accepted",
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.GA"
  ],
  "abstract": "We propose a functional form for the IMF, the L_3 IMF, which is a natural heavy-tailed approximation to the log-normal distribution. It is composed of a low-mass power law and a high mass power-law which are smoothly joined together. Three parameters are needed to achieve this. The standard IMFs of Kroupa-2001a, Kroupa-2002a and Chabrier-2003b (single stars or systems) are essentially indistinguishable from this form. Compared to other 3-parameter functions of the IMF, the L_3 IMF has the advantage that the cumulative distribution function and many other characteristic quantities have a closed form, the mass generating function, for example, can be written down explicitly.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2012-12-05T06:23:19.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "stellar initial mass function",
      "function describing",
      "low-mass power law",
      "high mass power-law",
      "distribution"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "journal article"
    ],
    "publication": {
      "doi": "10.1093/mnras/sts479",
      "journal": "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",
      "year": 2013,
      "month": "Feb",
      "volume": 429,
      "number": 2,
      "pages": 1725
    },
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 8,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable",
      "inspire": 1205602,
      "adsabs": "2013MNRAS.429.1725M"
    }
  }
}