Program: GS-2015B-Q-46

Recent surveys in nearby young star forming regions give intriguing evidence for regional differences in the shape of the Initial Mass Function in the substellar domain. This can be understood as a sign of environmental differences in the formation of very low mass objects, possibly caused by the presence of massive stars, or high stellar densities. In order to further test this hypothesis, we propose to obtain deep FLAMINGOS2 images of two young clusters with significantly different environments than those characterizing most of the nearby star forming regions. The selected clusters are RCW 36, showing high stellar densities, but only a few massive stars, and NGC 2244, a loose cluster harboring many OB stars. By deriving the IMF in these two clusters, and comparing them to the current surveys, we will test the notion that brown dwarf formation is indeed a function of environment. We will also test which of the two conditions, stellar density or presence of the OB stars, has stronger influence at the numbers of young brown dwarfs relative to stars.