2025NatAs...9.1337S

Query : 2025NatAs...9.1337S

2025NatAs...9.1337S - Nature Astronomy, 9, 1337-1346 (2025/September-0)

A high fraction of close massive binary stars at low metallicity.

SANA H., SHENAR T., BODENSTEINER J., BRITAVSKIY N., LANGER N., LENNON D.J., MAHY L., MANDEL I., DE MINK S.E., PATRICK L.R., VILLASENOR J.I., DIRICKX M., ABDUL-MASIH M., ALMEIDA L.A., BACKS F., BERLANAS S.R., BERNINI-PERON M., BOWMAN D.M., BRONNER V.A., CROWTHER P.A., DESHMUKH K., EVANS C.J., FABRY M., GIELES M., GILKIS A., GONZALEZ-TORA G., GRAFENER G., GOTBERG Y., HAWCROFT C., HENAULT-BRUNET V., HERRERO A., HOLGADO G., IZZARD R.G., DE KOTER A., JANSSENS S., JOHNSTON C., JOSIEK J., JUSTHAM S., KALARI V.M., KLENCKI J., KUBAT J., KUBATOVA B., LEFEVER R.R., VAN LOON J.T., LUDWIG B., MACKEY J., MAIZ APELLANIZ J., MARAVELIAS G., MARCHANT P., MAZEH T., MENON A., MOE M., NAJARRO F., OSKINOVA L.M., OVADIA R., PAULI D., PAWLAK M., RAMACHANDRAN V., RENZO M., ROCHA D.F., SANDER A.A.C., SCHNEIDER F.R.N., SCHOOTEMEIJER A., SCHOSSER E.C., SCHURMANN C., SEN K., SHAHAF S., SIMON-DIAZ S., VAN SON L.A.C., STOOP M., TOONEN S., TRAMPER F., VALLI R., VIGNA-GOMEZ A., VINK J.S., WANG C. and WILLCOX R.

Abstract (from CDS):

At high metallicity, a majority of massive stars have at least one close stellar companion. The evolution of such binaries is subject to strong interaction processes, which heavily impact the characteristics of their life-ending supernova and compact remnants. For the low-metallicity environments of high-redshift galaxies, constraints on the multiplicity properties of massive stars over the separation range leading to binary interaction are crucially missing. Here we show that the presence of massive stars in close binaries is ubiquitous, even at low metallicity. Using the Very Large Telescope, we obtained multi-epoch radial velocity measurements of a representative sample of 139 massive O-type stars across the Small Magellanic Cloud, which has a metal content of about one-fifth of the solar value. We find that 45% of them show radial velocity variations that demonstrate that they are members of close binary systems, and predominantly have orbital periods shorter than 1 year. Correcting for observational biases indicates that at least $7{0}_{-6}^{+11}\%$ of the O stars in our sample are in close binaries, and that at least $6{8}_{-8}^{+7}\%$ of all O stars interact with a companion star during their lifetime. We found no evidence supporting a statistically significant trend of the multiplicity properties with metallicity. Our results indicate that multiplicity and binary interactions govern the evolution of massive stars and determine their cosmic feedback and explosive fates.


Abstract Copyright: 2025 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited

Journal keyword(s):

VizieR on-line data: <Available at CDS (J/other/NatAs/9.1337): stars.dat table1.dat table2.dat>

Simbad objects: 5

goto Full paper

goto View the references in ADS

Number of rows : 5
N Identifier Otype ICRS (J2000)
RA 		ICRS (J2000)
DEC 		Mag U Mag B Mag V Mag R Mag I Sp type #ref
1850 - 2026 		#notes
1 NAME SMC G 00 52 38.0 -72 48 01   2.79 2.2     ~ 12317 1
2 NAME LMC G 05 23 34.6 -69 45 22     0.4     ~ 19090 0
3 NGC 2070 Cl* 05 38 42 -69 06.0     7.25     ~ 406 1
4 RMC 136 Cl* 05 38 42.396 -69 06 03.36   5.81 5.40     ~ 2236 2
5 Ass Cyg OB 2 As* 20 33.2 +41 19           ~ 1023 0

To bookmark this query, right click on this link: simbad:objects in 2025NatAs...9.1337S and select 'bookmark this link' or equivalent in the popup menu