Evidence for a non-universal stellar initial mass function in low-redshift high-density early-type galaxies
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract We determine an absolute calibration of stellar mass-to-light ratios for the densest ≃3 per cent of early-type galaxies in the local Universe (redshift z≃ 0.08) from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7. This sample of ∼4000 galaxies has, assuming a Chabrier initial mass function (IMF), effective stellar surface densities Σe > 2500 M⊙ pc−2, stellar population synthesis (SPS) stellar masses log10(MSPS/M⊙) < 10.8 and aperture velocity dispersions of σap = 168+37-34km s-1 (68 per cent range). In contrast to typical early-type galaxies, we show that these dense early-type galaxies follow the virial Fundamental Plane, which suggests that mass follows light. With the additional assumption that any dark matter does not follow the light, the dynamical masses of dense galaxies provide a direct measurement of stellar masses. Our dynamical masses (Mdyn), obtained from the spherical Jeans equations, are only weakly sensitive to the choice of anisotropy (β) due to the relatively large aperture of the SDSS fibre for these galaxies: Rap≃ 1.5Re. Assuming isotropic orbits (β= 0), we find a median log10(Mdyn/MSPS) = 0.233 ± 0.003, consistent with a Salpeter IMF, while more bottom-heavy IMFs and standard Milky Way IMFs are strongly disfavoured. Our results are consistent with, but do not require, a dependence of the IMF on dynamical mass or velocity dispersion. We find evidence for a colour dependence to the IMF such that redder galaxies have heavier IMFs with Mdyn/MSPS∝ (g−r)1.13 ± 0.09. This may reflect a more fundamental dependence of the IMF on the age or metallicity of a stellar population, or the density at which the stars formed.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".