The stellar mass spectrum in warm and dusty gas: deviations from Salpeter in the Galactic centre and in circumnuclear starburst regions

Understanding the origin of stellar masses is a key problem in astrophysics. In the solar neighbourhood, the mass distribution of stars follows a seemingly universal pattern. In the centre of the Milky Way, however, there are indications for strong deviations and the same may be true for the nuclei of distant starburst galaxies. Here we present the first numerical hydrodynamical calculations of stars formed in a molecular region with chemical and thermodynamic properties similar to those of warm and dusty circumnuclear starburst regions. The resulting initial mass function is top-heavy with a peak at similar to 15 M-circle dot, a sharp turn-down below similar to 7 M-circle dot and a power-law decline at high masses. We find a natural explanation for our results in terms of the temperature dependence of the Jeans mass, with collapse occurring at a temperature of similar to 100 K and an H-2 density of a few x10(5) cm(-3), and discuss possible implications for galaxy formation and evolution.