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We present a statistical comparison of the mass ratio distribution of companions, as observed in different multiplicity surveys, to the most recent estimate of the single object mass function (Bochanski et al. 2010). The main goal of our analysis is to test whether or not the observed companion mass ratio distribution (CMRD) as a function of primary star mass and star formation environment is consistent with having been drawn from the field star IMF. We consider samples of companions for M dwarfs, solar type and intermediate mass stars, both in the field as well as clusters or associations, and compare them with populations of binaries generated by random pairing from the assumed IMF for a fixed primary mass. With regard to the field we can reject the hypothesis that the CMRD was drawn from the IMF for different primary mass ranges: the observed CMRDs show a larger number of equal-mass systems than predicted by the IMF. This is in agreement with fragmentation theories of binary formation. For the open clusters {alpha} Persei and the Pleiades we also reject the IMF random- pairing hypothesis. Concerning young star-forming regions, currently we can rule out a connection between the CMRD and the field IMF in Taurus but not in Chamaeleon I. Larger and different samples are needed to better constrain the result as a function of the environment. We also consider other companion mass functions (CMF) and we compare them with observations. Moreover the CMRD both in the field and clusters or associations appears to be independent of separation in the range covered by the observations. Combining therefore the CMRDs of M and G primaries in the field and intermediate mass primary binaries in Sco OB2 for mass ratios, q = M2/M1, from 0.2 to 1, we find that the best chi-square fit follows a power law dN/dq propto q^{beta}, with {beta} = -0.50 pm 0.29, consistent with previous results.
We present new results regarding the companion mass-ratio distribution (CMRD) of stars, as a follow-up of our previous work. We used a maximum-likelihood-estimation method to re-derive the field CMRD power law avoiding dependence on the arbitrary binning. We also considered two new surveys of multiples in the field for solar-type stars and M dwarfs to test the universality of the CMRD. We found no significant differences in the CMRD for M dwarfs and solar-type stars compared with previous results over the common mass ratio and separation range. The new best-fit power law of the CMRD in the field, combining two previous sets of data, is $dN/dq propto q^{beta}$, with $beta=0.25pm0.29$.
Many proposed scenarios for black hole (BH) mergers involve a tertiary companion that induces von Zeipel-Lidov-Kozai (ZLK) eccentricity cycles in the inner binary. An attractive feature of such mechanisms is the enhanced merger probability when the octupole-order effects, also known as the eccentric Kozai mechanism, are important. This can be the case when the tertiary is of comparable mass to the binary components. Since the octupole strength [$propto (1-q)/(1+q)$] increases with decreasing binary mass ratio $q$, such ZLK-induced mergers favor binaries with smaller mass ratios. We use a combination of numerical and analytical approaches to fully characterize the octupole-enhanced binary BH mergers and provide analytical criteria for efficiently calculating the strength of this enhancement. We show that for hierarchical triples with semi-major axis ratio $a/a_{rm out}gtrsim 0.01$-$0.02$, the binary merger fraction can increase by a large factor (up to $sim 20$) as $q$ decreases from unity to $0.2$. The resulting mass ratio distribution for merging binary BHs produced in this scenario is in tension with the observed distribution obtained by the LIGO/VIRGO collaboration, although significant uncertainties remain about the initial distribution of binary BH masses and mass ratios.
The complexity of physico-chemical models of star formation is increasing, with models that take into account new processes and more realistic setups. These models allow astrochemists to compute the evolution of chemical species throughout star formation. Hence, comparing the outputs of such models to observations allows to bring new constraints on star formation. The work presented in this paper is based on the recent public release of a database of radiation hydrodynamical low-mass star formation models. We used this database as physical parameters to compute the time dependent chemical composition of collapsing cores with a 3-phase gas-grain model. The results are analyzed to find chemical tracers of the initial physical parameters of collapse such as the mass, radius, temperature, density, and free-fall time. They are also compared to observed molecular abundances of Class 0 protostars. We find numerous tracers of the initial parameters of collapse, except for the initial mass. More particularly, we find that gas phase CH3CN, NS and OCS trace the initial temperature, while H2CS trace the initial density and free-fall time of the parent cloud. The comparison of our results with a sample of 12 Class 0 low mass protostars allows us to constrain the initial parameters of collapse of low-mass prestellar cores. We find that low-mass protostars are preferentially formed within large cores with radii greater than 20000 au, masses between 2 and 4 Msol, temperatures lower or equal to 15 K, and densities between 6e4 and 2.5e5 part.cm-3, corresponding to free-fall times between 100 and 200 kyrs.
In this paper we study the morphological properties of spiral galaxies, including measurements of spiral arm number and pitch angle. Using Galaxy Zoo 2, a stellar mass-complete sample of 6,222 SDSS spiral galaxies is selected. We use the machine vision algorithm SpArcFiRe to identify spiral arm features and measure their associated geometries. A support vector machine classifier is employed to identify reliable spiral features, with which we are able to estimate pitch angles for half of our sample. We use these machine measurements to calibrate visual estimates of arm tightness, and hence estimate pitch angles for our entire sample. The properties of spiral arms are compared with respect to various galaxy properties. The star formation properties of galaxies vary significantly with arm number, but not pitch angle. We find that galaxies hosting strong bars have spiral arms substantially ($4-6^mathrm{o}$) looser than unbarred galaxies. Accounting for this, spiral arms associated with many-arm structures are looser (by 2$^mathrm{o}$) than those in two-arm galaxies. In contrast to this average trend, galaxies with greater bulge-to-total stellar mass ratios display both fewer and looser spiral arms. This effect is primarily driven by the galaxy disc, such that galaxies with more massive discs contain more spiral arms with tighter pitch angles. This implies that galaxy central mass concentration is not the dominant cause of pitch angle and arm number variations between galaxies, which in turn suggests that not all spiral arms are governed by classical density waves or modal theories.
Core-collapse supernovae (SNe), marking the deaths of massive stars, are among the most powerful explosions in the Universe, responsible, e.g., for a predominant synthesis of chemical elements in their host galaxies. The majority of massive stars are thought to be born in close binary systems. To date, putative binary companions to the progenitors of SNe may have been detected in only two cases, SNe 1993J and 2011dh. We report on the search for a companion of the progenitor of the Type Ic SN 1994I, long considered to have been the result of binary interaction. Twenty years after explosion, we used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe the SN site in the ultraviolet (F275W and F336W bands), resulting in deep upper limits on the expected companion: F275W > 26.1 mag and F336W > 24.7 mag. These allows us to exclude the presence of a main sequence companion with a mass >~ 10 Msun. Through comparison with theoretical simulations of possible progenitor populations, we show that the upper limits to a companion detection exclude interacting binaries with semi-conservative (late Case A or early Case B) mass transfer. The limits tend to favor systems with non-conservative, late Case B mass transfer with intermediate initial orbital periods and mass ratios. The most likely mass range for a putative main sequence companion would be ~5--12 Msun, the upper end of which corresponds to the inferred upper detection limit.