Binary Interaction Dominates the Evolution of Massive Stars

TLDR

The presence of a nearby companion alters the evolution of massive stars in binary systems, leading to phenomena such as stellar mergers, x‑ray binaries, and gamma‑ray bursts, yet the fraction of stars affected by binary interaction was previously unclear. The study aims to quantify the frequency and nature of binary interactions among Galactic massive O stars. The authors simultaneously measured all relevant binary characteristics in a sample of Galactic massive O stars to assess interaction rates. More than 70% of massive stars will exchange mass with a companion, resulting in a binary merger in one‑third of cases, far exceeding prior estimates and indicating that binary interaction dominates massive‑star evolution with implications for supernova populations.

Abstract

The presence of a nearby companion alters the evolution of massive stars in binary systems, leading to phenomena such as stellar mergers, x-ray binaries, and gamma-ray bursts. Unambiguous constraints on the fraction of massive stars affected by binary interaction were lacking. We simultaneously measured all relevant binary characteristics in a sample of Galactic massive O stars and quantified the frequency and nature of binary interactions. More than 70% of all massive stars will exchange mass with a companion, leading to a binary merger in one-third of the cases. These numbers greatly exceed previous estimates and imply that binary interaction dominates the evolution of massive stars, with implications for populations of massive stars and their supernovae.