Statistical Confirmation of a Stellar Upper Mass Limit
M.S. Oey & C.J. Clarke
We derive the expectation value for the maximum stellar mass (m_max)
in an ensemble of N stars, as a function of the IMF upper-mass cutoff
(m_up) and N. We statistically demonstrate that the upper IMF of
the local massive star census observed thus far in the Milky Way and
Magellanic Clouds clearly exhibits a universal upper mass cutoff
around 120 - 200 M_sun for a Salpeter IMF, although the result is
more ambiguous for a steeper IMF.
ApJ Letters, 620, L43
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astro-ph/0501135
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