Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2007-08-13
ApJ 671, 767-780 (2007)
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
14 pages, 11 figures, uses emulateapj.cls. Minor corrections and 1 reference added after being accepted by the ApJ
Scientific paper
10.1086/522512
The origin of brown dwarfs (BDs) is still an unsolved mystery. While the standard model describes the formation of BDs and stars in a similar way recent data on the multiplicity properties of stars and BDs show them to have different binary distribution functions. Here we show that proper treatment of these uncovers a discontinuity of the multiplicity-corrected mass distribution in the very-low-mass star (VLMS) and BD mass regime. A continuous IMF can be discarded with extremely high confidence. This suggests that VLMSs and BDs on the one hand, and stars on the other, are two correlated but disjoint populations with different dynamical histories. The analysis presented here suggests that about one BD forms per five stars and that the BD-star binary fraction is about 2%-3% among stellar systems.
Kroupa Pavel
Thies Ingo
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