Formation Scenario for Wide and Close Binary Systems

TL;DR

This study uses 3D resistive MHD simulations to explore how initial magnetic and rotational energies influence the formation of wide and close binary star systems during cloud collapse.

Contribution

It identifies two distinct fragmentation epochs driven by initial energy ratios, explaining the origins of wide and close binary systems.

Findings

Wide binaries form during low-density fragmentation with large rotational energy.

Close binaries form during high-density fragmentation after magnetic field dissipation.

Two typical fragmentation epochs lead to different stellar separation distributions.

Abstract

Fragmentation and binary formation processes are studied using three-dimensional resistive MHD nested grid simulations. Starting with a Bonnor-Ebert isothermal cloud rotating in a uniform magnetic field, we calculate the cloud evolution from the molecular cloud core (n=10^4 cm^-3) to the stellar core (n \simeq 10^22 cm^-3). We calculated 147 models with different initial magnetic, rotational, and thermal energies, and the amplitudes of the non-axisymmetric perturbation. In a collapsing cloud, fragmentation is mainly controlled by the initial ratio of the rotational to the magnetic energy, regardless of the initial thermal energy and amplitude of the non-axisymmetric perturbation. When the clouds have large rotational energies in relation to magnetic energies, fragmentation occurs in the low-density evolution phase (10^12 cm^-3 < n < 10^15 cm^-3) with separations of 3-300 AU. Fragments that appeared in this phase are expected to evolve into wide binary systems. On the other hand, fragmentation does not occur in the low-density evolution phase, when initial clouds have large magnetic energies in relation to the rotational energies. In these clouds, fragmentation only occurs in the high-density evolution phase (n > 10^17 cm^-3) after the clouds experience significant reduction of the magnetic field owing to Ohmic dissipation in the period of 10^12 cm^-3 < n < 10^15 cm^-3. Fragments appearing in this phase have separations of < 0.3 AU, and are expected to evolve into close binary systems. As a result, we found two typical fragmentation epochs, which cause different stellar separations. Although these typical separations are disturbed in the subsequent gas accretion phase, we might be able to observe two peaks of binary separations in extremely young stellar groups.