The binary fraction of the young cluster NGC 1818 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

TL;DR

This study estimates the binary fraction of F stars in the young, low-metallicity cluster NGC 1818 using Hubble data, artificial-star tests, and synthetic diagrams, providing strong constraints on binary populations in such environments.

Contribution

It introduces a simple, efficient method to measure binary fractions in young clusters using artificial-star tests and synthetic color-magnitude diagrams.

Findings

Binary fraction for F stars with q > 0.4 is approximately 0.35.

Total binary fraction for F stars is estimated between 0.55 and 1.0.

Method is sensitive to binaries with mass ratios q ≥ 0.4.

Abstract

We use high-resolution {\sl Hubble Space Telescope} imaging observations of the young ($\sim 15-25$ Myr-old) star cluster NGC 1818 in the Large Magellanic Cloud to derive an estimate for the binary fraction of F stars ($1.3 < M_\star/M_\odot < 1.6$). This study provides the strongest constraints yet on the binary fraction in a young star cluster in a low-metallicity environment (${[Fe/H]} \sim -0.4$ dex). Employing artificial-star tests, we develop a simple method that can efficiently measure the probabilities of stellar blends and superpositions from the observed stellar catalog. We create synthetic color-magnitude diagrams matching the fundamental parameters of NGC 1818, with different binary fractions and mass-ratio distributions. We find that this method is sensitive to binaries with mass ratios, $q \ga 0.4$. For binaries with F-star primaries and mass ratios $q > 0.4$, the binary fraction is $\sim 0.35$. This suggests a total binary fraction for F stars of 0.55 to unity, depending on assumptions about the form of the mass-ratio distribution at low $q$.