Evolution of the MF for the cluster, near-tail and far-tail for the M20000 model (M4641 and M1000 model are shown in Figure A.5). (a) Evolution of the MF of the cluster. The colours represent the cluster age (blue: younger, red: older). The solid lines show the MFs of the non-degenerate (ignoring white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes) population. (b) Evolution of the MF within the observationally detectable near-tail region. The non-degenerate MF is shown using dash-dotted lines. (c) Evolution of the MF in the far-tails region. The non-degenerate MF is shown using dashed lines. (d) Normalised (scaled by the total number of stars) MF of the cluster (solid lines) and near-tail (dash-dotted lines). The dotted lines show the MFs of degenerate stars in (a–c) panels. Grey lines with the Salpeter (1955) IMF slope (Γ=−1.35) are shown as for reference.