Astronomers will present new findings from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope
(HST) at a media teleconference on Wednesday, March 9 from 2 to 3 p.m. EST.
These findings have taken astronomers a step closer to understanding the
star formation process and may provide the strongest evidence yet to
support the notion stars have a weight limit.
Reporters should call: 888/694-8940; provide the passcode “Hubble.” At the
start of the briefing, images and graphics supporting the conference will
be posted on the Internet at:
http://nm-private.stsci.edu/inprogress/2005/050309Mediatelecon
The system will prompt twice for username (figer) and password (arches).
Briefing participants:
- Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, panel moderator and HST Program Scientist, NASA Headquarters
- Dr. Don Figer, Associate Astronomer, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore
- Dr. Sally Oey, Assistant Professor of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0501135
From: Sally Oey [view email] Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2005 22:51:07 GMT (41kb)
Statistical Confirmation of a Stellar Upper Mass Limit
Authors:
M. S. Oey (U. Michigan),
C. J. Clarke (IoA, Cambridge)
Comments: PDF, 5 pages, 4 figures. Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal
Letters
We derive the expectation value for the maximum stellar mass (m_max) in an
ensemble of N stars, as a function of the IMF upper-mass cutoff (m_up) and N.
We statistically demonstrate that the upper IMF of the local massive star
census observed thus far in the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds clearly
exhibits a universal upper mass cutoff around 120 – 200 M_sun for a Salpeter
IMF, although the result is more ambiguous for a steeper IMF.
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