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Constraining the Variability and Binary Fraction of Galactic Center Young Stars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2017

Abhimat K. Gautam Open the ORCID record for Abhimat K. Gautam [Opens in a new window] ,
Tuan Do ,
Andrea M. Ghez ,
Jessica R. Lu ,
Mark R. Morris ,
Shoko Sakai ,
Gunther Witzel ,
Breann N. Sitarski  and
Samantha Chappell
Abhimat K. Gautam
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: abhimat@astro.ucla.edu
Tuan Do
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: abhimat@astro.ucla.edu
Andrea M. Ghez
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: abhimat@astro.ucla.edu
Jessica R. Lu
Affiliation:
Dept. of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
Mark R. Morris
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: abhimat@astro.ucla.edu
Shoko Sakai
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: abhimat@astro.ucla.edu
Gunther Witzel
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: abhimat@astro.ucla.edu
Breann N. Sitarski
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: abhimat@astro.ucla.edu
Samantha Chappell
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: abhimat@astro.ucla.edu
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Abstract

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We present constraints on the variability and binarity of young stars in the central 10 arcseconds (~ 0.4 pc) of the Milky Way Galactic Center (GC) using Keck Adaptive Optics data over a 12 year baseline. Given our experiment’s photometric uncertainties, at least 36% of our sample’s known early-type stars are variable. We identified eclipsing binary systems by searching for periodic variability. In our sample of spectroscopically confirmed and likely early-type stars, we detected the two previously discovered GC eclipsing binary systems. We derived the likely binary fraction of main sequence, early-type stars at the GC via Monte Carlo simulations of eclipsing binary systems, and find that it is at least 32% with 90% confidence.

Keywords

Galaxy: centerstars: early-type(stars:) binaries: eclipsing
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 11 , Symposium S322: The Multi-Messenger Astrophysics of the Galactic Centre , July 2016 , pp. 237 - 238
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2017 

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