Meyer, DM-A, Kuiper, R, Kley, W et al. (2 more authors) (2018) Forming spectroscopic massive proto-binaries by disk fragmentation. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 473 (3). pp. 3615-3637. ISSN 0035-8711
Abstract
The surroundings of massive protostars constitute an accretion disc which has numerically been shown to be subject to fragmentation and responsible for luminous accretion-driven outbursts. Moreover, it is suspected to produce close binary companions which will later strongly influence the star's future evolution in the Hertzsprung–Russel diagram. We present three-dimensional gravitation-radiation-hydrodynamic numerical simulations of 100 M⊙ pre-stellar cores. We find that accretion discs of young massive stars violently fragment without preventing the (highly variable) accretion of gaseous clumps on to the protostars. While acquiring the characteristics of a nascent low-mass companion, some disc fragments migrate on to the central massive protostar with dynamical properties showing that its final Keplerian orbit is close enough to constitute a close massive protobinary system, having a young high- and a low-mass components. We conclude on the viability of the disc fragmentation channel for the formation of such short-period binaries, and that both processes – close massive binary formation and accretion bursts – may happen at the same time. FU-Orionis-type bursts, such as observed in the young high-mass star S255IR−NIRS3, may not only indicate ongoing disc fragmentation, but also be considered as a tracer for the formation of close massive binaries – progenitors of the subsequent massive spectroscopic binaries – once the high-mass component of the system will enter the main-sequence phase of its evolution. Finally, we investigate the Atacama Large (sub-)Millimeter Array observability of the disc fragments.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | (c) 2017 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. |
Keywords: | accretion; accretion discs; methods: numerical; stars: massive; stars: protostars |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Astrophysics (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 15 Aug 2018 13:27 |
Last Modified: | 15 Aug 2018 13:27 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford Academic |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/mnras/stx2551 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:134627 |