A high-resolution imaging survey of massive young stellar objects in the Magellanic Clouds

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Autori principali: Kalari, Venu M., Salinas, Ricardo, Zinnecker, Hans, Rubio, Monica, Herczeg, Gregory, Andersen, Morten
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Kalari, Venu M.
Salinas, Ricardo
Zinnecker, Hans
Rubio, Monica
Herczeg, Gregory
Andersen, Morten
author_facet Kalari, Venu M.
Salinas, Ricardo
Zinnecker, Hans
Rubio, Monica
Herczeg, Gregory
Andersen, Morten
contents Constraints on the binary fraction of young massive stellar objects (mYSOs) are important for binary and massive star formation theory. Here, we present speckle imaging of 34 mYSOs located in the Large (1/2 $Z_{\odot}$) and Small Magellanic Clouds ($\sim$1/5 $Z_{\odot}$), probing projected separations between the 2000-20000 au (at angular scales of 0.02-0.2") range, for stars above 8 $M_{\odot}$. We find two wide binaries in the Large Magellanic Cloud (from a sample of 23 targets), but none in a sample of 11 in the Small Magellanic Cloud, leading us to adopt a wide binary fraction of 9$\pm$5%, and $<$5%, respectively. We rule out a wide binary fraction greater than 35% in the Large, and 38% in the Small Magellanic Cloud at the 99% confidence level. This is in contrast to the wide binary fraction of mYSOs in the Milky Way (presumed $Z_{\odot}$), which within the physical parameter space probed by this study is $\sim$15-60% from the literature. We argue that while selection effects could be responsible for the lower binary fraction observed; it is more likely that there are underlying physical mechanisms responsible for the observed properties. This indicates that metallicity and environmental effects may influence the formation of wide binaries among massive stars. Future larger, statistically more significant samples of high-mass systems in low-metallicity environments, and for comparison in the Milky Way, are essential to confirm or repudiate our claim.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_17983
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A high-resolution imaging survey of massive young stellar objects in the Magellanic Clouds
Kalari, Venu M.
Salinas, Ricardo
Zinnecker, Hans
Rubio, Monica
Herczeg, Gregory
Andersen, Morten
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Constraints on the binary fraction of young massive stellar objects (mYSOs) are important for binary and massive star formation theory. Here, we present speckle imaging of 34 mYSOs located in the Large (1/2 $Z_{\odot}$) and Small Magellanic Clouds ($\sim$1/5 $Z_{\odot}$), probing projected separations between the 2000-20000 au (at angular scales of 0.02-0.2") range, for stars above 8 $M_{\odot}$. We find two wide binaries in the Large Magellanic Cloud (from a sample of 23 targets), but none in a sample of 11 in the Small Magellanic Cloud, leading us to adopt a wide binary fraction of 9$\pm$5%, and $<$5%, respectively. We rule out a wide binary fraction greater than 35% in the Large, and 38% in the Small Magellanic Cloud at the 99% confidence level. This is in contrast to the wide binary fraction of mYSOs in the Milky Way (presumed $Z_{\odot}$), which within the physical parameter space probed by this study is $\sim$15-60% from the literature. We argue that while selection effects could be responsible for the lower binary fraction observed; it is more likely that there are underlying physical mechanisms responsible for the observed properties. This indicates that metallicity and environmental effects may influence the formation of wide binaries among massive stars. Future larger, statistically more significant samples of high-mass systems in low-metallicity environments, and for comparison in the Milky Way, are essential to confirm or repudiate our claim.
title A high-resolution imaging survey of massive young stellar objects in the Magellanic Clouds
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.17983