J/A+A/664/A26ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/664/A26doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.36640026CDSPouteau Y.Motte F.Nony T.Galvan-Madrid R.Men'shchikov A.,Bontemps S.Robitaille J.-F.Louvet F.Ginsburg A.Herpin F.,Lopez-Sepulcre A.Dell'Ova P.Gusdorf A.Sanhueza P.Stutz A.M.,Brouillet N.Thomasson B.Armante M.Baug T.Busquet G.Csengeri T.,Cunningham N.Fernandez-Lopez M.Liu H.-L.Olguin F.Towner A.P.M.,Bally J.Braine J.Bronfman L.Joncour I.Gonzalez M.Hennebelle P.,Lu X.Menten K.M.Moraux E.Tatematsu K.Walker D.Whitworth A.P.2026-04-02T20:02:46Z2022-08-04T08:43:12ZCDS support team

CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France

cds-question@unistra.frmolecular-cloudsmillimeter-astronomysubmillimeter-astronomyThe processes that determine the stellar initial mass function (IMF) and its origin are critical unsolved problems, with profound implications for many areas of astrophysics. The W43-MM2&MM3 mini-starburst ridge hosts a rich, young protocluster, from which one can test the current paradigm on the IMF origin. The ALMA-IMF Large Program observed the W43-MM2&MM3 ridge, whose 1.3mm and 3mm ALMA 12m array continuum images reach a ~2500au spatial resolution. We used both the best-sensitivity and the line-free ALMA-IMF images, reduced the noise with the multi-resolution segmentation technique MnGSeg, and derived the most complete and most robust core catalog possible. Using two different extraction software packages, getsf and GExt2D, we identified ~200 compact sources, whose ~100 common sources have on average fluxes consistent to within 30%. We filtered sources with non-negligible free-free contamination and corrected fluxes from line contamination, resulting in a W43-MM2&MM3 catalog of 205 getsf cores. With a median deconvolved FWHM size of 3400au, core masses range from ~0.1M_{sun} to ~70M_{sun}_ and the getsf catalog is 90% complete down to 0.8M_{sun}_. The high-mass end of the core mass function (CMF) of W43-MM2&MM3 is top-heavy compared to the canonical IMF. Fitting the cumulative CMF with a single power law of the form N(>logM){prop.to}M^alpha^, we measured alpha=-0.95+/-0.04, compared to the canonical alpha=-1.35 Salpeter IMF slope. The slope of the CMF is robust with respect to map processing, extraction software package, and reasonable variations in the assumptions taken to estimate core masses. We explore several assumptions on how cores transfer their mass to stars (assuming a mass conversion efficiency) and sub-fragment (defining a core fragment mass function) to predict the IMF resulting from the W43-MM2&MM3 CMF. While core mass growth should flatten the high-mass end of the resulting IMF, core fragmentation could steepen it. In stark contrast to the commonly accepted paradigm, our result argues against the universality of the CMF shape. More robust functions of the star-formation efficiency and core sub-fragmentation are required to better predict the resulting IMF, here suggested to remain top-heavy at the end of the star-formation phase. If confirmed, the IMFs emerging from starburst events could inherit their top-heavy shape from their parental CMFs, challenging the IMF universality.2022A&A...664A..26Phttps://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/664/A26CatalogResearchIsServedByTAP VizieR generic serviceIsServedByConesearch servicerelated-toJ/A+A/662/A9 : 15 dense molecular cloud regions ALMA images (Ginsburg+, 2022)https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.htmlhttps://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/664/A26https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/664/A26http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/664/A26https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/A+A/664/A26https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/A+A/664/A26http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/A+A/664/A26GETtext/xml+votablehttps://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tapCone search capability for table J/A+A/664/A26/tablee1 (ALMA catalogue, detections)https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/664/A26/tablee1?https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/664/A26/tablee1?http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/664/A26/tablee1?GETtext/xml+votable180.050000true281.9033333-2.0150750.0055555555555555566/302626.621485433431823e-23 1.528037907652962e-22https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/moc/J/A+A/664/A26?format=asciiMillimeterdefaultJ/A+A/664/A26/tablee1ALMA catalogue, detectionsPA1.3Position angle, at 1.3mm (North to East)degpos.posAngintSpeak1.3Peak flux, at 1.3mmmJy/beamphot.flux.density;em.mm.200-400GHz;stat.maxfloate_Speak1.3Peak flux error, at 1.3mmmJy/beamstat.errorfloatSint1.3Integrated flux, at 1.3mmmJyphot.flux.density;em.mm.200-400GHzfloate_Sint1.3Integrated flux error, at 1.3mmmJystat.errorfloatafwhm3? FWHM major axis, at 3mmarcsecphys.angSize;em.mm.50-100GHzfloatnullablebfwhm3? FWHM minor axis, at 3mmarcsecphys.angSize;em.mm.50-100GHzfloatnullablePA3? Position angle, at 3mm (North to East)degpos.posAngintnullablel_Speak3[<= ] Limit flag on Speak3meta.code.errorcharSpeak3Peak flux, at 3mmmJy/beamphot.flux.density;em.mm.50-100GHz;stat.maxfloate_Speak3? Peak flux error, at 3mmmJy/beamstat.errorfloatnullablel_Sint3[<= ] Limit flag on Sint3meta.code.errorcharSint3Integrated flux, at 3mmmJyphot.flux.density;em.mm.50-100GHzfloate_Sint3? Integrated flux error, at 3mmmJystat.errorfloatnullableTagd[* -] Tag for sources also detected by GExt2D and that may have a 1.3mm flux less than a factor of two compared to getsfmeta.codecharComTag for partially or almost fully contaminated sourcesmeta.notecharrecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintSeq[1/296] Core identifier of getsfmeta.idintNameCore name (HHMMSS.ss+DMMSS.ss), W43-MM2&3_ALMAIMF HHMMSS.ss+DMMSS.ssmeta.id;meta.maincharRAJ2000Right ascension (J2000)pos.eq.ra;meta.mainDEJ2000Declination (J2000)pos.eq.dec;meta.mainafwhm1.3FWHM major axis, at 1.3mmarcsecphys.angSize;em.mm.200-400GHzfloatbfwhm1.3FWHM minor axis, at 1.3mmarcsecphys.angSize;em.mm.200-400GHzfloatSimbadNameSimbad column added by the CDSmeta.idcharnullableJ/A+A/664/A26/tablee2ALMA catalogue, derived parametersrecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintSeq[1/296] Core identifier of getsfmeta.idintNameCore name (HHMMSS.ss+DMMSS.ss), W43-MM2&3_ALMAIMF HHMMSS.ss+DMMSS.ssmeta.id;meta.maincharFWHMdec1.3Deconvolved physical core size, at 1.3mmauphys.angSizeintMassCore dust mass, at 1.3mmsolMassphys.massfloate_MassCore dust mass error, at 1.3mmsolMassstat.error;phys.massfloatTdustDust temperature of the coreKphys.temperaturefloate_TdustDust temperature error of the coreKstat.errorfloatnH2Volume density of the core1e+06cm**-3phys.densityfloat