Probing initial distributions of orbital eccentricity and disc misalignment via polar discs

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how measuring polar disc fractions and their orbital eccentricities can reveal the initial distributions of orbital parameters in young multiple stellar systems.

Contribution

It introduces a method to constrain initial eccentricity and inclination distributions using polar disc observations in protostellar systems.

Findings

Polar disc fraction correlates with initial orbital misalignment.

Average eccentricity in polar discs constrains initial eccentricity distribution.

Method provides insights into early stellar system formation.

Abstract

In a population of multiple protostellar systems with discs, the sub-population of circumbinary discs whose orbital plane is highly misaligned with respect to the binary's orbital plane constrains the initial distribution of orbital parameters of the whole population. We show that by measuring the polar disc fraction and the average orbital eccentricity in the polar discs, one can constrain the distributions of initial eccentricity and mutual inclination in multiple stellar systems at birth.