Abstract
Utilizing the authors’ recent catalogue of wide double and multiple stars for the solar vicinity (Poveda et al. 1994) we investigate the distribution of separations of their components. We find that the distribution of separations, f(s), is well represented by Öpik’s relation f(s) ∝ s -1 for separations smaller than 2,400 AU. We find an age-dependent critical separation S c which divides those binaries that have been affected by energy exchanges in encounters with perturbing objects from those whose separations are still unchanged from their primeval distribution. For the group of youngest systems from our catalogue S c = 7, 800 AU, and for the oldest, S c = 2, 400 AU. The velocity dispersions for the first group give a mean age of 2.5 × 109 years, while those for the oldest systems yield 7 × 109 years.
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© 1997 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Poveda, A., Allen, C., Herrera, M.A. (1997). Evolutionary Effects in the Separations of Wide Binaries. In: Docobo, J.A., Elipe, A., McAlister, H. (eds) Visual Double Stars: Formation, Dynamics and Evolutionary Tracks. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 223. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1477-3_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1477-3_24
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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