High Mass-ratio Binary Population in Open Clusters: Segregation of early type binaries and an increasing binary fraction with mass

TL;DR

This study analyzes high mass-ratio binary stars in 23 open clusters using Gaia data, revealing their distribution, segregation, and relation to cluster age, which informs theories of binary formation and evolution.

Contribution

It introduces the segregation index for binaries, estimates binary fractions across spectral types, and explores their spatial segregation and dependence on cluster age.

Findings

HMR binary fraction ranges from 0.12 to 0.38, peaking at 0.12–0.20.

Older clusters exhibit higher HMR binary fractions.

Radial segregation of HMR binaries is observed in older clusters.

Abstract

Binary stars play a vital role in astrophysical research, as a good fraction of stars are in binaries. Binary fraction (BF) is known to change with stellar mass in the Galactic field, but such studies in clusters require binary identification and membership information. Here, we estimate the total and spectral-type-wise high mass-ratio (HMR) BF ($f^{0.6}$) in 23 open clusters using unresolved binaries in color-magnitude diagrams using \textit{Gaia} DR2 data. We introduce the segregation index (SI) parameter to trace mass segregation of HMR (total and mass-wise) binaries and the reference population. This study finds that in open clusters, (1) HMR BF for the mass range 0.4--3.6 Msun (early M to late B type) has a range of 0.12 to 0.38 with a peak at 0.12--0.20, (2) older clusters have a relatively higher HMR BF, (3) the mass-ratio distribution is unlikely to be a flat distribution and BF(total) $\sim$ (1.5 to 2.5) $\times f^{0.6}$, (4) a decreasing BF(total) from late B-type to K-type, in agreement with the Galactic field stars, (5) older clusters show radial segregation of HMR binaries, (6) B and A/F type HMR binaries show radial segregation in some young clusters suggesting a primordial origin. This study will constrain the initial conditions and identify the major mechanisms that regulate binary formation in clusters. Primordial segregation of HMR binaries could result from massive clumps spatially segregated in the collapse phase of the molecular cloud.