Radial Variation in the Stellar Mass Functions of Star Clusters
  A number of recent observational studies of Galactic globular clusters have
measured the variation in the slope of a cluster's stellar mass function
$\alpha$ with clustercentric distance $r$. In order to gather a deeper
understanding of the information contained in such observations, we have
explored the evolution of $\alpha(r)$ for star clusters with a variety of
initial conditions using a large suite of $N$-body simulations. We have
specifically studied how the time evolution of $\alpha(r)$ is affected by
initial size, mass, binary fraction, primordial mass segregation, black hole
retention, an external tidal field, and the initial mass function itself.
Previous studies have shown that the evolution of $\alpha_G$ is closely related
to the amount of mass loss suffered by a cluster. Hence for each simulation we
have also followed the evolution of the slope of the cluster's global stellar
mass function, $\alpha_G$, and have shown that clusters follow a well-defined
track in the $\alpha_G$-$d\alpha(r)/d(ln(r/r_m))$ plane. The location of a
cluster on the $\alpha_G-d\alpha(r)/d(ln(r/r_m))$ plane can therefore constrain
its dynamical history and, in particular, constrain possible variations in the
stellar initial mass function. The $\alpha_G$-$d\alpha(r)/d(ln(r/r_m))$ plane
thus serves as a key tool for fully exploiting the information contained in
wide field studies of cluster stellar mass functions.
