http://arxiv.org/abs/1706.09894
Solar-type binaries with short orbital periods ($P_{\rm close}$ $\equiv$ 1 – 10 days; $a$ $\lesssim$ 0.1 AU) cannot form directly via fragmentation of molecular clouds or protostellar disks, yet their component masses are highly correlated suggesting interaction during the pre-main-sequence (pre-MS) phase. Moreover, the close binary fraction of pre-MS stars is consistent with that of their MS counterparts in the field ($F_{\rm close}$ $=$ 2.1%). Thus we can infer that some migration mechanism operates during the early pre-MS phase ($\tau$ $\lesssim$ 5 Myr) that reshapes the primordial separation distribution. We test the feasibility of this hypothesis by carrying out a population synthesis calculation which accounts for two formation channels: Kozai-Lidov (KL) oscillations and dynamical instability in triple systems. Our models incorporate (1) more realistic initial conditions compared to previous studies (2) octupole-level effects in the secular evolution, (3) tidal energy dissipation via weak-friction eddy viscosity at small eccentricities and via non-radial dynamical oscillations at large eccentricities, and (4) the larger tidal radius of a pre-MS primary. Given a 15% triple star fraction, we simulate a close binary fraction from KL oscillations alone of $F_{\rm close}$ $\approx$ 0.4% after $\tau$ = 5 Myr, which increases to $F_{\rm close}$ $\approx$ 0.8% by $\tau$ = 5 Gyr. Dynamical ejections and disruptions of unstable coplanar triples in the disk produce solitary binaries with slightly longer periods $P$ $\approx$ 10 – 100 days. The remaining $\approx$60% of close binaries with outer tertiaries, particularly those in compact coplanar configurations with log $P_{\rm out}$ (days) $\approx$ 2 – 5 ($a_{\rm out}$ $<$ 50 AU), can be explained only with substantial extra energy dissipation due to interactions with primordial gas.
M. Moe and K. Kratter
Mon, 3 Jul 17
23/51
Comments: Submitted to ApJ, 21 pages, 8 figures
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