  We determine an absolute calibration of the initial mass function (IMF) of
early-type galaxies, by studying a sample of 56 gravitational lenses identified
by the SLACS Survey. Under the assumption of standard Navarro, Frenk & White
dark matter halos, a combination of lensing, dynamical, and stellar population
synthesis models is used to disentangle the stellar and dark matter
contribution for each lens. We define an "IMF mismatch" parameter
\alpha=M*(L+D)/M*(SPS) as the ratio of stellar mass inferred by a joint lensing
and dynamical models (M*(L+D)) to the current stellar mass inferred from
stellar populations synthesis models (M*(SPS)). We find that a Salpeter IMF
provides stellar masses in agreement with those inferred by lensing and
dynamical models (<\log \alpha>=0.00+-0.03+-0.02), while a Chabrier IMF
underestimates them (<\log \alpha>=0.25+-0.03+-0.02). A tentative trend is
found, in the sense that \alpha appears to increase with galaxy velocity
dispersion. Taken at face value, this result would imply a non universal IMF,
perhaps dependent on metallicity, age, or abundance ratios of the stellar
populations. Alternatively, the observed trend may imply non-universal dark
matter halos with inner density slope increasing with velocity dispersion.
While the degeneracy between the two interpretations cannot be broken without
additional information, the data imply that massive early-type galaxies cannot
have both a universal IMF and universal dark matter halos.
