We compile most recent multiplicity fractions and binary separation distributions for different primary masses, including very low-mass and brown dwarf primaries, and compare them with dynamical decay models of small-N clusters. The model predictions are based on detailed numerical calculations of the internal cluster dynamics, as well as on Monte-Carlo methods. Both observations and models reflect the same trends: (1) The multiplicity fraction is an increasing function of the primary mass. (2) The mean binary separations are increasing with the system mass in the sense that very low-mass binaries have average separations around ≈ 4AU, while the binary separation distribution for solar-type primaries peaks at ≈ 40AU. M-type binary systems apparently preferentially populate intermediate separations. Similar specific energy at the time of cluster formation for all cluster masses can possibly explain this trend.

A summary is given of the IAU Colloquium No 191 “The Environment and Evolution of Binary and Multiple Stars.” This conference was held in Mérida, Mexico during February 2003 and dedicated to Dr. Arcadio Poveda for his major contributions to binary- and multiple-star systems and dynamics. The conference was organized to discuss the major developments that are occurring in the fields of binary- and multiple-star formation, evolution, dynamics, and the environments where they form and evolve.

We model the L1551 IRS5 source as a system containing two protostars, each surrounded by a circumstellar disk, both encircled by a circumbinary disk, and all disks surrounded by an extended infalling flattened envelope With this composite model, we can calculate self-consistently the spectral energy distribution of the source the shape of the ice and silicate features, and the spatial intensity distributions of the envelope and disks. We compare our model results with the observations, determining the physical parameters of the disks and the envelope. We find that flattened envelope collapse models are required in order to explain the observations and that the infall rate of the envelope is much larger than the accretion rates of the binary disks.

The statistics of stellar systems of multiplicity three and higher is reviewed. They are frequent, 0.15−0.25 of all stellar systems. Some 700 multiples are expected among the 3383 stars of spectral type F, G, and K within 50 pc, while only 76 of them are actually known. Many (if not all) close binaries have distant tertiary components, indicating that angular momentum exchange within multiple systems was probably critical in forming short-period binaries. The ratio of outer to inner periods in the best-studied nearby multiples and in low-mass pre-main sequence multiples does not exceed 104 at the formation epoch; larger ratios are produced by subsequent orbital evolution. All multiples with well-defined orbits are dynamically stable, the eccentricities of outer orbits obey the empirical stability limit Pout(1 – eout)3/Pin > 5 that is more strict than current theoretical limits. Relative orientation of orbits in triple stars shows some degree of alignment, especially in weakly-hierarchical systems. The statistics support the idea that most multiple stars originated from dynamical interactions in small clusters.

The observation that young stars are clustered in few body non-hierarchical multiple systems at very young ages has profound consequences for our understanding of the formation of stars, binaries and the disks and planets that may surround them. In this chapter we review theoretical progress made over the last decade in modeling the break up of these natal clusters and discuss a range of observational predictions that arise from these models, relating to the kinematics, binary statistics and possession of disks of both stars and brown dwarfs. We also argue that one of the most spectacular manifestations of dynamical interactions in young multiple systems should be the formation of giant Herbig-Haro flows, and present observational evidence that may be interpreted in this light.

We discuss theoretical aspects of binary and multiple star formation, focusing on their formation in stellar clusters. First, we review individual processes that may occur during the formation of binary and multiple stars: fragmentation, accretion, interactions with circumstellar discs, and dynamical interactions. We then discuss the results from a recent large-scale hydrodynamical calculation of cluster formation in which all of these processes occur simultaneously, examining the formation mechanisms and resulting properties of the binary and multiple stars in this cluster.