Multiplicity of the young O- and B-type stars in the Orion nebula cluster
Th. Preibisch, H. Zinnecker, G. Weigelt
Poster Contribution at the IAU Symposium 200
Birth and Evolution of Binary Stars
Potsdam, Germany, April 2000
Poster Proceedings Booklet, p. 106, (2000)
Abstract
We present the results of a bispectrum speckle interferometric survey for
binaries among the massive stars in the Orion Nebula cluster.
Observations of 13 bright cluster members of spectral
type O or B reveal 8 visual companions in total.
Using the flux ratios of the resolved systems to estimate the masses of
the companions, we find that the systems generally have mass ratios below
0.5.
Extrapolation with correction for the unresolved systems
suggests that there are at least 1.5 companions per primary star on
average. This number is clearly higher than the corresponding number
for low-mass primaries, suggesting that a different mechanism is at
work in the formation of high-mass multiple systems
than for low-mass multiple systems.
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