Project information
The variable stellar initial mass function — a missing key to galaxy evolution and cosmology (Dr. Zhiqiang Yan)

The Initial Mass Function (IMF) plays a central role across astrophysics: it links star formation with chemodynamical evolutions of galaxies, affects stellar feedback, the estimations of galaxy masses, star formation rates, and dark matter content. While the IMF has long been assumed to be universal, growing evidence indicates that it varies with environment. Yet, robust constraints across a diverse range of systems remain limited. This project will leverage both local and distant galaxy observations to systematically measure the IMF in environments previously inaccessible, such as faint, metal-poor galaxies. These systems are critical for understanding the properties of the earliest galaxies and the evolution of baryonic matter over cosmic time. By combining stellar population synthesis with galaxy chemical evolution models, we will develop a self-consistent framework for interpreting element abundances and establishing the empirical variation law of the IMF — enabling a new generation of astrophysical models that improve the interpretation of extragalactic observations.