Arches cluster: IR phot., extinction and masses

Assuming the two regimes of widely used infrared extinction laws, we show that the difference can reach up to 30% for individually derived stellar masses and {Delta}AKs~1 magnitude in acquired Ks-band extinction, while the present mass function slope changes by ~0.17dex. The present-day mass function slope derived assuming the Nishiyama et al. (2009) extinction law increases from a flat slope of {alpha}-Nishi=-1.50+/-0.35 in the core (r<0.2pc) to {alpha}-Nishi=-2.21+/-0.27 in the intermediate annulus (0.2<r<0.4pc), where the Salpeter slope is -2.3.

The present-day mass function steepens to {alpha}-Nishi=-3.21+/-0.30 in the outer annulus (0.4<r<1.5pc), indicating that the outer cluster region is depleted of high mass stars. This picture is consistent with mass segregation due to the dynamical evolution of the cluster.