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arXiv · astro-ph/0312288

A Near-Infrared Multiplicity Survey of Class I/Flat-Spectrum Systems in Six Nearby Molecular Clouds

Karl E. Haisch Jr.·Thomas P. Greene·Mary Barsony·Steven W. Stahler
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Abstract

We present new near-IR observations of 76 Class I/flat-spectrum objects in the nearby (d < 320 pc) Perseus, Taurus, Chamaeleon I and II, rho Ophiuchi, and Serpens dark clouds. These observations are part of a larger systematic infrared multiplicity survey of self-embedded objects in the nearest dark clouds. When combined with the results of our previously published near-infrared multiplicity survey, we find a restricted companion star fraction of 14/79 (18% +/- 4%) of the sources surveyed to be binary or higher order multiple systems over a separation range of ~300 - 2000 AU with a magnitude difference $Δ$ K <= 4, and with no correction for background contamination or completeness. This is consistent with the fraction of binary/multiple systems found among older pre-main-sequence T Tauri stars in each of the Taurus, rho Ophiuchi, and Chamaeleon star-forming regions over a similar separation range, as well as the combined companion star fraction for these regions. However, the companion star fraction for solar-type, and lower mass M dwarf, main-sequence stars in the solar neighborhood in this separation range (11% +/- 3%) is approximately one-half that of our sample. Together with multiplicity statistics derived for previously published samples of Class 0 and Class I sources, our study suggests that a significant number of binary/multiple objects may remain to be discovered at smaller separations among our Class I/flat-spectrum sample and/or most of the evolution of binary/multiple systems occurs during the Class 0 phase of early stellar evolution.

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Karl E. Haisch Jr., Thomas P. Greene, Mary Barsony, Steven W. Stahler. 2003-12-11. A Near-Infrared Multiplicity Survey of Class I/Flat-Spectrum Systems in Six Nearby Molecular Clouds. https://doi.org/10.1086/381952

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