Astro2020 White Paper: On the Origin of the Initial Mass Function

Abstract: It is usually assumed that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) takes a universal form and that there exists a direct mapping between this and the distribution of natal core masses (the core mass function, CMF). The IMF and CMF have been best characterized in the Solar neighborhood. Beyond 500~pc from the Sun, in diverse environments where metallicity varies and massive star feedback may dominate, the IMF has been measured only incompletely and imprecisely, while the CMF has hardly been measured at all. In order to establish if the IMF and CMF are indeed universal and related to each other, it is necessary to: 1) perform multi-wavelength large-scale imaging and spectroscopic surveys of different environments across the Galaxy; 2) require an angular resolution of < 0.1'' in the optical/near-IR for stars and < 5'' in the far-IR for cores; 3) achieve far-IR sensitivities to probe 0.1~Msol cores at 2--3 kpc.