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The observed present-day stellar mass function (PDMF) of the solarneighborhood is a mixture of stellar populations born in star-forming eventsthat occurred over the life-time of the thin disk of the Galaxy. Assuming starsform in embedded clusters which have stellar initial mass functions (IMFs)which depend on the metallicity and density of the star-forming gas clumps, theintegrated galaxy-wide IMF (IGIMF) can be calculated. The shape of the IGIMFthus depends on the SFR and metallicity. Here, the shape of the PDMF for starsmore massive than $1\,M_\odot$ in combination with the mass density in low-massstars is used to constrain the current star-formation rate (SFR), the starformation history (SFH) and the current stellar plus remnant mass ($M_*$) inthe Galactic thin disk. This yields the current SFR, $\dot{M}_*=4.1^{+3.1}_{-2.8}~M_\odot$yr$^{-1}$, a declining SFH and$M_*=2.1^{+3.0}_{-1.5}\times 10^{11}M_\odot$, respectively, with a V-bandstellar mass-to-light ratio of $M_*/L_V=2.79^{+0.48}_{-0.38}$.These values areconsistent with independent measurements. We also quantify the surface densityof black holes and neutron stars in the Galactic thin disk. The invariantcanonical IMF can reproduce the PDMF of the Galaxy as well as the IGIMF, but inthe universal IMF framework it is not possible to constrain any of the aboveGalactic properties. Assuming the IGMF theory is the correct framework and incombination with the vertical velocity dispersion data of stars, it followsthat the Milky Way would have appeared as a chain galaxy at high redshift.

Was the Milky Way a chain galaxy? Using the IGIMF theory to constrain the thin-disk star formation history and mass