Evolution of Extremely Soft Binaries in Dense Star Clusters: On the Jupiter Mass Binary Objects

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Main Authors: Wang, Yihan, Perna, Rosalba, Zhu, Zhaohuan, Lin, Douglas N. C.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Wang, Yihan
Perna, Rosalba
Zhu, Zhaohuan
Lin, Douglas N. C.
author_facet Wang, Yihan
Perna, Rosalba
Zhu, Zhaohuan
Lin, Douglas N. C.
contents Star-forming regions, characterized by dense environments, experience frequent encounters that significantly influence binary systems, leading to their hardening, softening, or ionization. We extend the Hut \& Bahcall formalism to derive an analytical expression for the ionization cross-section in extreme mass ratio binary systems, allowing us to investigate the orbital evolution and population dynamics of binary planets and binary brown dwarfs in star clusters, while considering ongoing binary system formation. Our findings reveal that for low-mass soft binaries, the semi-major axis distribution asymptotes to a universal power law between $\propto a^{-8/3}$ and $\propto a^{-5/3}$ over the derived ionization timescale. We also discuss the implications of our results for the candidate Jupiter-mass binary objects putatively reported in the Trapezium cluster. We demonstrate that if their existence is verified, they likely form continuously with a spectrum proportional to $a^{1}$, aligning better with the ejection mechanism than with the in-situ formation mechanism, which predicts a distribution roughly proportional to $a^{-1}$. However, this implies an impractically high ejection formation rate. Alternatively, if these objects are binary brown dwarfs, continuous in-situ formation ($\propto a^{-1}$) with an initial minimal semi-major axis around 20 AU and a formation rate of 100 Myr$^{-1}$ plausibly matches the observed number of single objects, binary number, binary fraction, and semi-major axis distribution.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_20416
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Evolution of Extremely Soft Binaries in Dense Star Clusters: On the Jupiter Mass Binary Objects
Wang, Yihan
Perna, Rosalba
Zhu, Zhaohuan
Lin, Douglas N. C.
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Star-forming regions, characterized by dense environments, experience frequent encounters that significantly influence binary systems, leading to their hardening, softening, or ionization. We extend the Hut \& Bahcall formalism to derive an analytical expression for the ionization cross-section in extreme mass ratio binary systems, allowing us to investigate the orbital evolution and population dynamics of binary planets and binary brown dwarfs in star clusters, while considering ongoing binary system formation. Our findings reveal that for low-mass soft binaries, the semi-major axis distribution asymptotes to a universal power law between $\propto a^{-8/3}$ and $\propto a^{-5/3}$ over the derived ionization timescale. We also discuss the implications of our results for the candidate Jupiter-mass binary objects putatively reported in the Trapezium cluster. We demonstrate that if their existence is verified, they likely form continuously with a spectrum proportional to $a^{1}$, aligning better with the ejection mechanism than with the in-situ formation mechanism, which predicts a distribution roughly proportional to $a^{-1}$. However, this implies an impractically high ejection formation rate. Alternatively, if these objects are binary brown dwarfs, continuous in-situ formation ($\propto a^{-1}$) with an initial minimal semi-major axis around 20 AU and a formation rate of 100 Myr$^{-1}$ plausibly matches the observed number of single objects, binary number, binary fraction, and semi-major axis distribution.
title Evolution of Extremely Soft Binaries in Dense Star Clusters: On the Jupiter Mass Binary Objects
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.20416