A spectroscopic survey on the multiplicity of high-mass stars

TL;DR

This spectroscopic survey reveals that most high-mass stars form in close binary systems, with binary frequency varying by environment, supporting formation theories involving multiplicity and ejection processes.

Contribution

First large-scale high-resolution spectroscopic survey quantifying multiplicity of high-mass stars across different environments.

Findings

Over 82% of stars above 16 solar masses are in close binaries.

Binary fraction drops to 20% for stars of 3 solar masses.

High binary frequency among runaway O stars supports ejection formation scenarios.

Abstract

The formation of stars above about twenty solar masses and their apparently high multiplicity remain heavily debated subjects in astrophysics. We have performed a vast high-resolution radial velocity spectroscopic survey of about 250 O- and 540 B-type stars in the southern Milky Way which indicates that the majority of stars (> 82%) with masses above 16 solar masses form close binary systems while this fraction rapidly drops to 20% for stars of 3 solar masses. The binary fractions of O- type stars among different environment classes are: clusters (72 \pm 13%), associations (73 \pm 8%), field (43 \pm 13%), and runaways (69 \pm 11%). The high frequency of close pairs with components of similar mass argues in favour of a multiplicity originating from the formation process rather than from a tidal capture in a dense cluster. The high binary frequency of runaway O stars that we found in our survey (69% compared to 19-26% in previous surveys) points to the importance of ejection from young star clusters and thus supports the competitive accretion scenario.