2002A&A...387.1003M

The geometrical relationship between the distribution of circumstellar matter, observed optical linear polarization, outflows and binary orbital plane in Herbig Ae/Be stars is investigated. Optical linear polarization measurements carried out for a number of Herbig Ae/Be stars that are either known to be in binary systems and/or have bipolar jets are presented in this paper. Available information on the position angles of polarization, outflows and binary companions for Herbig Ae/Be stars is compiled and analysed for any possible correlations. In ≃85% of the sources the outflow position angle is within 30° of being parallel or perpendicular to the polarization position angle. In ≃81% of the sources the binary position angle is within 30° of being parallel or perpendicular to the polarization position angle. Out of 15 sources with bipolar outflows, 10 sources have the binary position angle within 30° of being perpendicular to the outflow position angle. These results favour those binary formation mechanisms in which the binary components and the disks around individual stars or circumbinary disks are coplanar.