Zusammenfassung
We introduce a new method to measure the dispersion of mmax values of star
clusters and show that the observed sample of mmax is inconsistent with random
sampling from an universal stellar initial mass function (IMF) at a 99.9%
confidence level. The scatter seen in the mmax-Mecl data can be mainly (76%)
understood as being the result of observational uncertainties only, while only
a minority (42%) of the clusters agree with the expectations from random
sampling. Additionally, new data on the local star-formation regions
Taurus-Auriga and L1641 in Orion seem to make stochastically formed stellar
populations rather unlikely. The data are however consistent with the local
IGIMF (integrated galactic stellar initial mass function) theory according to
which a stellar population is a sum of individual star-forming events each of
which is described by well defined physical laws. Randomly sampled IMFs and
henceforth scale-free star formation seems to be in contradiction to observed
reality.
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