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Statistical Modeling and Analysis of Wide Binary Star Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2007

K.B. Johnston ,
T.D. Oswalt  and
D. Valls-Gabaud
K.B. Johnston
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Florida Institute of Technology150 West University Blvd., Melbourne, Fl 32901 email: [email protected] and [email protected]
T.D. Oswalt
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Florida Institute of Technology150 West University Blvd., Melbourne, Fl 32901 email: [email protected] and [email protected]
D. Valls-Gabaud
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique UMR CNRS 5572, Observatoire Midi-Pyre'ne'es 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, F-31400 Toulouse, France. email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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Post-main-sequence (MS) mass loss causes orbital separation amplification in fragile (i.e. common proper motion) binary star systems. Components typically have separations around ∼1000 AU. Such wide pairs experience negligible tidal interactions and mass transfer between companions; thus they evolve as two separate but coeval stars. In this paper we compute the rate of mass loss during the components' lifetimes and attempt to model how it will statistically distort a frequency distribution of fragile binary separations. Understanding this process provides a robust test of current theories of stellar evolution and sets constraints on the dynamics of the Galactic disk.

Keywords

binaries: general - stars: statistics
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 2 , Symposium S240: Binary Stars as Critical Tools & Tests in Contemporary Astrophysics , August 2006 , pp. 686 - 689
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

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