1998AJ....116.2975M

Surveys of three samples of solar-type stars, segregated by chromospheric emission level, were made to determine their multiplicity fractions and to investigate the evolution of multiplicity with age. In total, 245 stars were searched for companions with ΔV ≤ 3.0 and separations of 0".035 to 1".08 using optical speckle interferometry. By incorporating the visual micrometer survey for duplicity of the LamontHussey Observatory, the angular coverage was extended to 5".0 with no change in the ΔV limit. This magnitude difference allows mass ratios of 0.63 and larger to be detected throughout a search region of 2-127 AU for the stars observed. The 84 primaries observed in the chromospherically active sample are presumably part of a young population and are found to have a multiplicity fraction of 17.9% ± 4.6%. The sample of 118 inactive, presumably older, primaries were selected and observed using identical methods and are found to have a multiplicity fraction of only 8.5%±2.7%. Given the known link between chromospheric activity and age, these results tentatively imply a decreasing stellar multiplicity fraction from 1 to 4 Gyr, the approximate ages of the two samples. Finally, only two of the 14 very active primaries observed were found to have a companion meeting the survey detection parameters. In this case, many of the systems are either very young, or close, RS CVn type multiples that are unresolvable using the techniques employed here.