Formation of massive binaries

Abstract

The formation of massive stars is one of the major unsolved problems in stellar astrophysics. However, only few if any of these are found as single stars, on average massive stars have more than one companion. Many of them are born in dense stellar clusters and several clusters have an excess of massive short-period spectroscopic binaries, with severe implication for binary-related stellar evolution including mergers, and also for the origin of massive runaway stars. The multiplicity of massive stars seems to increase with increasing primary mass and with increasing density of young star clusters. These observations suggest that massive binary and multiple systems originate mainly from dynamical gravitational interactions and accretion-induced protostellar collisions in dense clusters. If true, the binary properties of massive stars in less dense OB associations should be less extreme. This prediction should be tested by future observations. The paper reviews both the latest observations and theoretical ideas related to the origin of massive binaries. It concludes with a speculation on how the binary properties might change with metallicity (e.g., LMC/SMC).