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Hunting for red supergiant binaries: UVIT photometry of the SMC
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2024
Abstract
. We present UVIT/Astrosat UV photometry of the RSG population of the Small Cloud galaxy (SMC). As RSGs are extremely faint in the far-UV, these observations directly probe potential companion stars. From a sample of 861 SMC RSGs, we find 88 have detections at far-UV wavelengths: a clear signature of binarity. Stellar parameters are determined for both components, which allows us to study - for the first time - the mass-ratio (q) distribution of RSG binary systems. We find a flat mass-ratio distribution best describes the observations up to MRSG ∼15M⊙. We account for our main observing bias (i.e. the limiting magnitude of the UVIT survey) to determine the intrinsic RSG binary fraction of 18.8 ± 1.5 %, for mass-ratios in the range 0.3.<q<1.0 and orbital periods approximately in the range 3<log P[days]<8.
- Type
- Contributed Paper
- Information
- Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 18 , Symposium S361: Massive Stars Near and Far , May 2022 , pp. 279 - 285
- Creative Commons
- This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Copyright
- © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Astronomical Union