Stellar Content of the Galactic Starburst Template NGC 3603 from Adaptive Optics Observations

Abstract

We present near-infrared adaptive optics imaging of the Galactic starburst template NGC 3603 and its stellar center HD 97950. There is clear evidence for the presence of stars down to 1 Msolar or less. No cutoff or turnover in the initial mass function is evident. Applying theoretical models of the pre-main-sequence evolution of intermediate-mass stars to the observed color-color diagram, the color-magnitude diagram, and the luminosity function, we constrain both the age distribution and the initial mass function. Within the systematic errors, this initial mass function follows a Salpeter power law with index Gamma