Hunting for red supergiant binaries: UVIT photometry of the SMC

Patrick, Lee R.; Thilker, David; Lennon, Danny; Bianchi, Luciana; Schootemeijer, Abel; Dorda, Ricardo; Langer, Norbert; Negueruela, Ignacio
Bibliographical reference

IAU Symposium

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2024
Number of authors
8
IAC number of authors
2
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
. We present UVIT/Astrosat UV photometry of the RSG population of the Small Cloud galaxy (SMC). As RSGs are extremely faint in the far-UV, these observations directly probe potential companion stars. From a sample of 861 SMC RSGs, we find 88 have detections at far-UV wavelengths: a clear signature of binarity. Stellar parameters are determined for both components, which allows us to study - for the first time - the mass-ratio (q) distribution of RSG binary systems. We find a flat mass-ratio distribution best describes the observations up to MRSG ∼15M⊙. We account for our main observing bias (i.e. the limiting magnitude of the UVIT survey) to determine the intrinsic RSG binary fraction of 18.8 ± 1.5 %, for mass-ratios in the range 0.3.<q<1.0 and orbital periods approximately in the range 3<log P[days]<8.