A search for spectroscopic binaries among Herbig Ae/Be stars

Abstract

We present the results of a spectroscopic survey of binaries among 42 bright (mV < 11) Herbig Ae/Be stars in both hemispheres. Radial velocity variations were found in 7 targets, 4 are new spectroscopic binaries. The Li I 6 708 Å absorption line (absent feature in simple HAeBe stars spectra) indicates the presence of a cooler companion in 6 HAeBe spectrum binaries, 4 of which are new detections. Few stars classified as possible Herbig Ae/Be stars are not confirmed as such. While for short-period (P < 100 days) spectroscopic binaries, the observed binary frequency is 10%, the true spectroscopic binary frequency for Herbig Ae/Be stars may be as high as 35%.