M11, NGC 6705: Total Mass About 10000 M(sun), 200 Myr Orion Nebula, Distance about 450 pc, Total Mass about 5000 M(sun), Diameter about 3 pc Cluster formation • Observations versus Models • Important parameters 1. Time scale 2. Total mass 3. Initial Mass Function 4. Velocity distribution 5. Binary fraction 6. Diameter 7. Density distribution Distribution of young open clusters and star forming regions from Alfaro et al., 2009, Ap&SS, 324, 141 Distribution of star forming regions from Preibisch & Mamajek, 2008, Handbook of Star Forming Regions, Volume II Stars hotter than B0 and B0 to B2 Giant Molecular Clouds • Star Clusters can only form within „Giant Molecular Clouds“ (GMC) with a high enough initial mass • The stellar formation rate in the solar neighborhood is very low • But still there have to exist several GMCs to form Star Clusters • Is the formation process the same for all observed Galaxy types? Giant Molecular Clouds Stark & Lee, 2006, ApJ, 641, L116 Recent investigation of the 13CO Gas within 2000 pc around the Sun The number of young OCLs can be very well explained Formation rate of 0.45 OCLs per kpc-2 Myr-1 in the galactic disk within 2 kpc around the Sun Battinelli & Capuzzo-Dolcetta, 1991, MNRAS, 248, 76 Star Clusters Single + Binaries NGC 6611 (M16) d = 1750 pc t = 8 Myr Star formation „live“ Initial Mass Function • The „Initial Mass Function“ (IMF) describes the mass distribution for a population of stars when they are formed together • Relevant astrophysics: 1. Size, total mass and metallicity of the initial GMC 2. Fragmentation of the GMC 3. Conservation of the angular momentum 4. Local and global magnetic fields 5. Accretion in the Pre-Main Sequence phase • The only observational parameter for the test of stellar formation and evolution models • We observe a luminosity function which has to be transformed to the IMF Initial Mass Function • Several most important questions are still not solved 1. Is the IMF homogeneous within the Milky Way? 2. Is the IMF constant throughout time? 3. What is the influence of the local and global magnetic field on the IMF? 4. What is the influence of the local and global metallicity on the IMF? Initial Mass Function The IMF q(m), often called „Present-Day Mass Function“ (PDMF), is defined as: dN = q(m) dm dN is the number of all stars per cubic parsec on the main sequence with a mass between M and (M + dm). But we observe not the masses of stars but their magnitudes (relative and absolute) or luminosities. So we have to define the luminosity function and transform it into the IMF. Evolved stars In each row (MV + dM) there is a mixture of main sequence and evolved objects. For the IMF, we need the main sequence only. Evolved stars Luminosity function The luminosity function Y(MV), is defined as: dN = -Y(MV) dMV dN is is the number of all stars per cubic parsec on the main sequence with an absolute magnitude between MV and (MV + dMV). The transformation to the IMF is given as: q(m) = -Y(MV)[dm(MV)/dMV]-1 The second term is the derivation of the Mass-Luminosity function m(MV). It is depending on the age (t), metallicity (Z) and rotation (vrot) m(MV) = m(MV, Z, t, vrot) With which masses are these giants born? Correction of the observations We have to correct the complete observations for the evolved objects. There are three possibilities: 1. Take a statistical sample with a well known luminosity function (clusters) 2. Take a statistical sample with well known photometric magnitudes and distances 3. Take isochrones = theoretical star evolution = models based on observations = circular argument All these methods are not self consistent and always introduce an unknown error to the analysis Salpeter, 1955, ApJ, 121, 161 Results of classical spectral classification, only 10% of stars with MV = -4.5 mag are on the main sequence! These values are depending on the chosen sample for the spectral classification and which classification scheme is applied. The errors are rather large. All observations have to be normalized to one “standard system” which means essentially to one “time scale”. The observations show, that this heuristic law describes them very well q(m) ≈ m-G Salpeter law (1955) Star cluster are one of the most important observational test for the IMF because they, normally, have well defined ages, distances and metallicities. However, the errors are still quiet large. But there is still no homogeneous IMF determination for open clusters taking into account the available data. Bastian et al, 2010, Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 48, 339 Kroupa (2002) TYCHO2 data Sanner & Geffert, 2001, A&A, 370, 87 Saurabh et al., 2008, AJ, 135, 1934 Typical values and errors