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We here present the first spatially-resolved study of the IMF in externalgalaxies derived using a dynamical tracer of the mass-to-light ratio. We usethe kinematics of relaxed molecular gas discs in seven early-type galaxies(ETGs) selected from the ATLAS3D survey to dynamically determine mass-to-lightratio (M/L) gradients. These M/L gradients are not very strong in the innerparts of these objects, and galaxies that do show variations are those with thehighest specific star formation rates. Stellar population parameters derivedfrom star formation histories are then used in order to estimate the stellarinitial mass function function (IMF) mismatch parameter, and shed light on itsvariation within ETGs. Some of our target objects require a light IMF,otherwise their stellar population masses would be greater than their dynamicalmasses. In contrast, other systems seem to require heavier IMFs to explaintheir gas kinematics. Our analysis again confirms that IMF variation seems tobe occurring within massive ETGs. We find good agreement between our IMFnormalisations derived using molecular gas kinematics and those derived usingother techniques. Despite this, we do not see find any correlation between theIMF normalisation and galaxy dynamical properties or stellar populationparameters, either locally or globally. In the future larger studies which usemolecules as tracers of galaxy dynamics can be used to help us disentangle theroot cause of IMF variation.

Spatially resolved variations of the IMF mass normalisation in early-type galaxies as probed by molecular gas kinematics