Open AccessOn the upper limit on stellar masses in the Large Magellanic Cloud cluster R136
Author(s) -
Koen Chris
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09739.x
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , limit (mathematics) , large magellanic cloud , power law , mass distribution , range (aeronautics) , exponent , cluster (spacecraft) , stellar mass , distribution (mathematics) , astronomy , statistics , star formation , galaxy , mathematical analysis , mathematics , computer science , programming language , linguistics , materials science , philosophy , composite material
A truncated power‐law distribution is fitted to the 29 largest stellar masses known in R136. Two different statistical techniques are used, with comparable results. An upper limit to the mass distribution of the order of 140–160 M ⊙ is derived, while the power‐law exponent is in the approximate range 0.9–1.7. A power‐law distribution with no upper limit on the mass can be rejected with considerable confidence. It is recommended that the calculations be repeated when more reliable mass estimates are available.