Goodbye to Chi-by-Eye: A Bayesian Analysis of Photometric Binaries in Six Open Clusters

TL;DR

This study employs Bayesian analysis of Gaia, Pan-STARRS, and 2MASS data to determine binary star fractions and properties in six open clusters, revealing trends with age, mass, and density.

Contribution

It introduces a robust Bayesian methodology for analyzing photometric binaries in star clusters, providing detailed demographic and evolutionary insights.

Findings

Binary fraction increases with cluster age.

Binary fraction is higher toward cluster centers.

Evidence of mass segregation in binary and single star populations.

Abstract

We present a robust methodology for identifying photometric binaries in star clusters. Using Gaia DR3, Pan-STARRS and 2MASS data, we self-consistently define the cluster parameters and binary demographics for the open clusters (OCs) NGC 2168 (M35), NGC 7789, NGC 6819, NGC 2682 (M67), NGC 188, and NGC 6791. These clusters span in age from ~200 Myr (NGC 2168) to more than ~8 Gyr (NGC 6791) and have all been extensively studied in the literature. We use the Bayesian Analysis of Stellar Evolution software suite (BASE-9) to derive the age, distance, reddening, metallicity, binary fraction, and binary mass-ratio posterior distributions for each cluster. We perform a careful analysis of our completeness and also compare our results to previous spectroscopic surveys. For our sample of main-sequence stars with masses between 0.6 - 1 M_Sun, we find that these OCs have similar binary fractions that are also broadly consistent with the field multiplicity fraction. Within the clusters, the binary fraction increases dramatically toward the cluster centers, likely a result of mass segregation. Furthermore nearly all clusters show evidence of mass segregation within the single and binary populations, respectively. The OC binary fraction increases significantly with cluster age in our sample, possibly due to a combination of mass-segregation and cluster dissolution processes. We also find a hint of an anti-correlation between binary fraction and cluster central density as well as total cluster mass, possibly due to an increasing frequency of higher energy close stellar encounters that inhibit long-period binary survival and/or formation.