The high angular resolution multiplicity of massive stars

Abstract

We present the results of a speckle interferometric survey of Galactic massive stars that complements and expands upon a similar survey made over a decade ago. The speckle observations were made with the Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 4 m telescopes and USNO speckle camera, and they are sensitive to the detection of binaries in the angular separation regime between 003 and 5″ with relatively bright companions (ΔV < 3). We report on the discovery of companions to 14 OB stars. In total we resolved companions of 41 of 385 O-stars (11%), 4 of 37 Wolf-Rayet stars (11%), and 89 of 139 B-stars (64%; an enriched visual binary sample that we selected for future orbital determinations). We made a statistical analysis of the binary frequency among the subsample that are listed in the Galactic O Star Catalog by compiling published data on other visual companions detected through adaptive optics studies and/or noted in the Washington Double Star Catalog and by collecting published information on radial velocities and spectroscopic binaries. We find that the binary frequency is much higher among O-stars in clusters and associations compared to the numbers for field and runaway O-stars, consistent with predictions for the ejection processes for runaway stars. We present a first orbit for the O-star δ Orionis; a linear solution of the close, apparently optical, companion of the O-star ι Orionis; and an improved orbit of the Be star δ Scorpii. Finally, we list astrometric data for another 249 resolved and 221 unresolved targets that are lower mass stars that we observed for various other science programs. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.