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BROWN DWARF BINARIES FROM DISINTEGRATING TRIPLE SYSTEMS

  • Authors: Bo Reipurth and Seppo Mikkola

2015 The Astronomical Journal 149 145.

  • Provider: AAS Journals

Caption: Figure 17.

Initial mean separations of BD triple systems (chosen to be between 40 and 400 AU) have a statistical effect on the value of final semimajor axes of the ejected binary systems but it is not a limit for it. The vast majority of BD binaries fall much beneath the dashed line (which defines where the initial mean separation equals the final semimajor axis), illustrating the compression of the binary systems caused by the energy lost to ejection of the third body. A tiny fraction of systems fall above the line due to low probability motions. The figure plots the initial mean triple separations against the final semimajor axes for ejected BD binaries at an age of 100 Myr. The dashed vertical lines indicate the 40 AU lower limit and 400 AU upper limit imposed on the initial mean separation of the triple systems.

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