About this episode

This episode discusses the initial mass function of stars and its implications for star formation in different environments across the Universe.

One of the most foundational questions we know how to ask in astronomy is simply this: given a cloud of gas of a given mass, what types of stars will form? How many stars of a given mass will you wind up with, and what factors does that depend on? The answer to this question, if we can give an answer, is known as the "initial mass function," and is generally very difficult to measure except in the most nearby of places: within our own Milky Way. It's possible that every time we form stars, we have a different initial mass function to reckon with. It's possible that in a different environment, perhaps with less dust, fewer heavy elements, or earlier in the Universe (when the background temperature was hotter), things behaved very differently from how they do in the here-and-now. Yet because of the extreme difference in brightness between high-mass and low-mass stars, we can only measure both high and low mass stars together nearby. It's as though we're only measuring the tip of the cosmic iceberg as far as stars go, where we're compelled to use what we know to draw conclusions about the rest of the Universe. In a very exciting new development, University of Missouri…

People in this episode

Host: Ethan Siegel

Topics covered

• initial mass function
• star formation
• astronomy
• Milky Way
• cosmic measurements

Keywords

• initial mass function
• star formation
• astronomy
• Milky Way
• high-mass stars
• low-mass stars
• cosmic iceberg

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Missouri

Books & works: arxiv.org/abs/2603.23594

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