The empirical binary properties of brown dwarfs ( BDs ) differ from those of normal stars suggesting BDs form a separate population .
Recent work by Thies and Kroupa revealed a discontinuity of the initial mass function ( IMF ) in the very-low-mass star regime under the assumption of a low multiplicity of BDs of about 15 per cent .
However , previous observations had suggested that the multiplicity of BDs may be significantly higher , up to 45 per cent .
This contribution investigates the implication of a high BD multiplicity on the appearance of the IMF for the Orion Nebula Cluster , Taurus-Auriga , IC 348 and the Pleiades .
We show that the discontinuity remains pronounced even if the observed MF appears to be continuous , even for a BD binary fraction as high as 60 % .
We find no evidence for a variation of the BD IMF with star-forming conditions .
The BD IMF has a power-law index \alpha _ { \mathrm { BD } } \approx + 0.3 and about 2 BDs form per 10 low-mass stars assuming equal-mass pairing of BDs .