Cambridge University Press (CUP), Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, S322(11), p. 237-238, 2016
DOI: 10.1017/s1743921316011996
Full text: Unavailable
AbstractWe present constraints on the variability and binarity of young stars in the central 10 arcseconds (~ 0.4 pc) of the Milky Way Galactic Center (GC) using Keck Adaptive Optics data over a 12 year baseline. Given our experiment’s photometric uncertainties, at least 36% of our sample’s known early-type stars are variable. We identified eclipsing binary systems by searching for periodic variability. In our sample of spectroscopically confirmed and likely early-type stars, we detected the two previously discovered GC eclipsing binary systems. We derived the likely binary fraction of main sequence, early-type stars at the GC via Monte Carlo simulations of eclipsing binary systems, and find that it is at least 32% with 90% confidence.