The mass ratio distribution of B-type visual binaries in the Sco OB2 association

Abstract

The sample of 115 B-type stars in Sco OB2 association is examined for existence of visual companions with ADONIS near-infrared adaptive optics system and coronograph in J and K bands. Practically all components in the separation range 0.3"-6" (45-900 A.U.) were detected, with magnitudes down to K=16. The K and J-K photometry of primaries and differential photometry and astrometry of 96 secondaries are presented. Ten secondaries are new physical components, as inferred from photometric and statistical criteria, while remaining are faint background stars. After small correction for detection incompleteness and conversion of fluxes into masses, an unbiased distribution of the components mass ratio q is derived. The power law f(q)\\propto q^{-0.5} fits well the observations, whereas a q^{-1.8} distribution which corresponds to random pairing of stars is rejected. The companion star fraction is 0.20 +- 0.04 per decade of separation, comparable to the highest measured binary fraction among low-mass PMS stars and ~1.6 times higher than the binary fraction of low-mass dwarfs in solar neighborhood and open clusters in the same separation range.