1994A&A...286...84D

Two of the major contending theories for binary and multiple star formation are fragmentation driven by rotation during cloud collapse and gravitational instability of massive protostellar disks. Implicit in the literature on these two mechanisms is that the parameter space available for binary formation in a star forming region varies with the cloud temperature. The sense of the difference is that binary formation is more likely in low-temperature clouds. Observations of cloud conditions and of binary fractions among young stellar objects are approaching the necessary level of detail to test this prediction; and there are hints in recent observations that such differences exist.