The simulation of the initial mass function and star formation efficiency

The fragmentation of a molecular cloud is modelled as a random process by the Monte Carlo method. The probability of the fragmentation is a function of the cloud initial mass and decreases rapidly for mass lower than critical mass, which is a defined parameter. The modelled IMF is compared with the mean mass function in open clusters assumed here as the observed IMF. The best fit was found for initial mass 3×10³ M _s and for the critical mass range 0.4 to 0.6M _s . It also implies the star formation efficiency to be about 0.3.Paper presented at a Workshop on The Role of Dust in Dense Regions of Interstellar Matter, held at Georgenthal, G.D.R., in March 1986.