The initial mass function of young open clusters in the Galaxy: A
  preliminary result
  The initial mass function (IMF) is an essential tool with which to study star
formation processes. We have initiated the photometric survey of young open
clusters in the Galaxy, from which the stellar IMFs are obtained in a
homogeneous way. A total of 16 famous young open clusters have preferentially
been studied up to now. These clusters have a wide range of surface densities
(log sigma = -1 to 3 [stars pc^2] for stars with mass larger than 5M_sun) and
cluster masses (M_cl = 165 to 50,000M_sun), and also are distributed in five
different spiral arms in the Galaxy. It is possible to test the dependence of
star formation processes on the global properties of individual clusters or
environmental conditions. We present a preliminary result on the variation of
the IMF in this paper.
