English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

We present a technique to identify the most probable dynamical formationscenario for an observed binary or triple system containing one or more mergerproducts or, alternatively, to rule out the possibility of a dynamical origin.Our method relies on an analytic prescription for energy conservation duringstellar encounters. With this, observations of the multiple star systemcontaining the merger product(s) can be used to work backwards in order toconstrain the initial orbital energies of any single, binary or triple systemsthat went into the encounter. The initial semi-major axes of the orbits providean estimate for the collisional cross section and therefore the time-scale forthe encounter to occur in its host cluster. We have applied our analyticprescription to observed binary and triple systems containing blue stragglers,in particular the triple system S1082 in M67 and the period distribution of theblue straggler binaries in NGC 188. We have shown that both S1082 and most ofthe blue straggler binaries in NGC 188 could have a dynamical origin, and thatencounters involving triples are a significant contributor to blue stragglerpopulations in old open clusters. In general, our results suggest thatencounters involving triples could make up a significant fraction of thosedynamical interactions that result in stellar mergers, in particular encountersthat produce multiple star systems containing one or more blue stragglers.

Stellar Encounters with Multiple Star Systems and the Blue Straggler Problem