Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T17:48:21.413Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Origin of Binary Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2017

Peter Bodenheimer*
Affiliation:
University of California Observatories Lick Observatory Board of Studies in Astronomy and Astrophysics University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Recent observational studies of the properties of binary systems among young stars indicate that the majority of binaries are formed very early in the history of a star, perhaps during the protostellar collapse. Major observational facts to be explained include the overall binary frequency, the non-negligible occurrence of multiple systems, and the distributions of period, eccentricity, and mass ratio among the individual binaries. Theoretical calculations of the collapse of rotating protostars during the isothermal phase indicate instability to fragmentation into multiple systems. This process in general produces systems with periods greater than a few hundred years, although somewhat shorter periods are possible. Fragmentation during later, optically thick, phases of collapse tends to be suppressed by pressure effects. Therefore, major theoretical problems remain concerning the origin of close binaries. Fission of rapidly rotating stars, tidal capture, and three-body capture have been shown to be improbable mechanisms for formation of close binaries. Mechanisms currently under study include gravitational instabilities in disks, orbital interactions and disk-induced captures in fragmented multiple systems, hierarchical fragmentation, and orbital decay of long-period systems. Single stars, on the other hand, could result by escape from multiple systems or by the collapse of clouds of low angular momentum, coupled with angular momentum transport after disk formation.

Type
Invited Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1992 

References

Abt, H. 1983, ARAA, 21, 343 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abt, H. 1987, ApJ, 317, 353 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adams, F. C., Ruden, S. P., & Shu, F. H. 1989, ApJ, 347, 959 Google Scholar
Aitken, R. G. 1935, The Binary Stars (New York: McGraw-Hill), 275 Google Scholar
Anosova, J. P. 1989, in Highlights of Astronomy, Vol. 8, ed. McNally, D. (Dordrecht: Kluwer), 143 Google Scholar
Bastien, P. 1983, A&A, 119, 109 Google Scholar
Benz, W. 1991, personal communication Google Scholar
Bodenheimer, P. 1978, ApJ, 224, 488 Google Scholar
Bodenheimer, P., Ruzmaikina, T., & Mathieu, R. 1992, in Protostars and Planets III, eds. Levy, E., Lunine, J., & Matthews, M. S. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press), in press.Google Scholar
Bonnell, I., Martel, H., Bastien, P, Arcoragi, J.-P., & Benz, W. 1991, ApJ, 377, 553 Google Scholar
Boss, A. P. 1981, ApJ, 250, 636 Google Scholar
Boss, A. P. 1986, ApJS, 62, 519 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boss, A. P. 1988, Comments Ap, 12, 169 Google Scholar
Boss, A. P. 1989, ApJ, 346, 336 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boss, A. P. 1991a, in Close Binaries, eds. Sahade, J., McCluskey, G., & Kondo, Y. (Dordrecht: Kluwer), in press.Google Scholar
Boss, A. P. 1991b, Nature, 351, 298 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, C., and Pringle, J. E. 1991a, MNRAS, 249, 584 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, C., and Pringle, J. E. 1991b, MNRAS, 249, 588 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duquennoy, A., & Mayor, M. 1991, A&A, 248, 485 Google Scholar
Durisen, R. H., Gingold, R. A., Tohline, J. E., & Boss, A. P. 1986, ApJ, 305, 281 Google Scholar
Fekel, F. 1981, ApJ, 246, 879 Google Scholar
Halbwachs, J.-L. 1987, A&A, 183, 234 Google Scholar
Heller, C. 1991, Ph. D. dissertation, Yale University Google Scholar
Hills, J. G. 1976, MNRAS, 175, 1P.Google Scholar
Hills, J. G., and Day, C. A. 1976, ApL, 17, 87 Google Scholar
Hoyle, F. 1953, ApJ, 118, 513 Google Scholar
Jeans, J. H. 1929, Astronomy and Cosmogony, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)Google Scholar
Larson, R. B. 1990, in Physical Processes in Fragmentation and Star Formation, eds. Capuzzo-Dolcetta, R., Chiosi, C., & DiFazio, A. (Dordrecht: Kluwer), 389 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lattanzio, J. C., & Henriksen, R. N. 1988, MNRAS, 232, 565 Google Scholar
Lyttleton, R. A. 1953, The Stability of Liquid Rotating Masses (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)Google Scholar
Mansbach, P. 1970, ApJ, 160, 135 Google Scholar
Marcy, G. W., & Benitz, K. J. 1989, ApJ, 344, 441 Google Scholar
Mathieu, R., Walter, F., & Myers, P. 1989, AJ, 98, 987 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miyama, S., Hayashi, C., & Narita, S. 1984, ApJ, 279, 621 Google Scholar
Monaghan, J. J., & Lattanzio, J. C. 1991, ApJ, 375, 177 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers, P. C., Fuller, G. A., Mathieu, R. D., Beichman, C. A., Benson, P. J., Schild, R. E., & Emerson, J. P, 1987, ApJ, 319, 340 Google Scholar
Myhill, E. A., and Kaula, W. M. 1991, ApJ, in press Google Scholar
Ostriker, J. P., & Bodenheimer, P. 1973, ApJ, 180, 171 Google Scholar
Pringle, J. E. 1989, MNRAS, 239, 361 Google Scholar
Pringle, J. E. 1991, in Physics of Star Formation and Early Stellar Evolution, eds. Lada, C. & Kylafis, N. (Dordrecht: Kluwer), 437 Google Scholar
Ruzmaikina, T. V. 1981a, Adv. Space Res., Vol 1, No 7, 49 Google Scholar
Ruzmaikina, T. V. 1981b, Pisma Astr. J. U. S. S. R., 7, 188 Google Scholar
Sasselov, D., & Rucinski, S. 1990, ApJ, 351, 578 Google Scholar
Shu, F. H., Tremaine, S., Adams, F. C., & Ruden, S. P. 1990, ApJ, 358, 495 Google Scholar
Simon, M., Chen, W. P., Howell, R. R., Benson, J. A., & Slowik, D. 1991, ApJ, in press Google Scholar
Strom, K. 1991, in preparation Google Scholar
Tassoul, J.-L. 1978, Theory of Rotating Stars (Princeton: Princeton University Press)Google Scholar
Tohline, J. E. 1981, ApJ, 248, 717 Google Scholar
Torres, G. 1991, Ph. D. dissertation, Córdoba University, Argentina Google Scholar
Williams, H. A., and Tohline, J. E. 1988, ApJ, 334, 449 Google Scholar
Wootten, A. 1989, ApJ, 337, 858 Google Scholar
Yang, S., Durisen, R. H., Cohl, H., Imamura, J. N., & Toman, J. 1991, Icarus, 91, 14 Google Scholar
Zinnecker, H. 1990, in Low Mass Star Formation and Pre-Main-Sequence Objects, ed. Reipurth, B. (Garching: European Southern Observatory), 447 Google Scholar