Strong resemblance between IMF and clump mass function on sub-pc scales

Yue Cao

Wednesday December 2nd, 14:30

One of the fundamental questions in star formation is how and to what extent do the physical properties of molecular cloud structures determine the stellar mass and the IMF? The mass function of cores on $0.01$--$0.1$ pc scales has been found resembling the IMF, prompting the well-accepted idea that IMF originates from CMF through a self-similar mass mapping process. With great improvements in statistical significance (8000+ samples), we find that (1) the mass function of clumps on $0.1$--1 pc scales also strongly resembles the IMF; (2) such resemblance degrades and disappears on even larger scales; (3) clump fragmentation does not follow the self-similar mapping. These findings imply a unique sub-pc scale in star formation as the largest scale that exhibit the shape of IMF.