Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2009/iii/paper-65/3/i/solution

Write and absorb units into the initial mass function normalization, . The specified mass-luminosity relation is , normalized to the Sun. Therefore the total stellar mass and luminosity are
The unknown normalization cancels. The mass-to-light ratio is
Low-mass main sequence stars dominate the stellar mass, while equal intervals of contribute equal luminosity under these particular exponents. More generally the mass-to-light ratio of a power-law stellar population with these exponents on is .

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