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# Pulsars with the SKA

## 1. Introduction

In the 35 years since the discovery of pulsars, these unique objects have been proven to be invaluable in the study of a wide variety of physical and astrophysical problems. Most notable are studies of gravitational physics, the interior of neutron stars, the structure of the Milky Way and stellar and binary evolution. Most, but not all, of these results have been obtained by pulsar timing. Other uses of pulsars depend on measuring their emission properties and/or the interaction of the radiation with an ambient medium. All such results will be measurable with the SKA to unprecedented precision. But pulsar astronomy will also benefit from the SKA simply because of the shear number of sources that will be discovered and studied. Searching for pulsars is a prime example where quantity results eventually in quality by discovering a large number of exotic objects that probe extreme physics. In the following I review the major aspects of the science case for pulsars which is also outlined in the report of the Radio Transient, Stellar End Products, and SETI working group. A more detailed account of the opportunities provided by the SKA will be presented in the forthcoming new SKA science case.

## 2. Science with the SKA

Studying the rotational behaviour and the propagation of the pulses in curved space-time is achieved by pulsar timing. In this mode of observing the arrival times of the pulses are measured with the highest possible precision. The timing precision can be expressed by the RMS of the residuals after fitting an appropriate spin-down model, which scales as

$$\sigma \frac{W}{\text{SNR}}\frac{T_{sys}}{A_{eff}}\times \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\mathrm{\Delta }\nu t}}\times \frac{W^{3/2}}{S_{psr}}$$
(1)
since the signal-to-noise ratio scales as SNR $`1/\sqrt{W}`$, roughly. The pulse width $`W`$ is measured in units of time, $`T_{sys}`$ is the system temperature on the sky, $`A_{eff}`$ the effective area of the telescope, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$ the available observing bandwidth, $`t`$ the integration time, and $`S_{psr}`$ the flux density of the pulsar. The last term in the above expression is source dependent, favouring strong pulsars with narrow pulses (or narrow features that can be locked on in a template matching procedure). Obviously, pulsars with a small period (and hence $`W`$), so-called millisecond pulsars provide the highest timing precision.

The special property of the SKA will be its unique sensitivity, i.e. a $`T_{sys}/A_{eff}`$ about 10 times smaller than for Arecibo or 100 times smaller than for the Lovell telescope, Effelsberg or the GBT. Hence, for the same sources it should in principle be possible to achieve a timing accuracy with the SKA that is correspondingly better. Apart from the flux density of the pulsar to be timed, another limiting factor will be the possible presence of timing noise. This random-like variation in the pulsar’s spin-down properties has been studied for slowly-rotating pulsars, but is also now observed in some faster-rotating millisecond pulsars (e.g. Lange et al. 2001, Lommen 2001). This suggests that every pulsar may, when studied with sufficient precision, exhibit this phenomenon. However, newly developed techniques may help to circumvent this possible limitation (Hobbs et al. 2003), and further studies will show how common it will be observed for millisecond pulsars.

Before we can time pulsars, we have to find them in the first place. The sensitivity of the SKA makes this a particularly exciting research area. The strawman-design of the SKA provides one with a sensitivity of $`S_{min}1.4\mu `$Jy in only 1 min integration time (assuming a detection threshold of $`8\sigma `$, a system temperature of $`T_{sys}25`$K, and a bandwidth of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu 0.5\nu `$). This corresponds to the luminosities listed in Table 1.

At 1.4 GHz, the currently observed luminosities range from 0.01 mJy kpc2 to 10,000 mJy kpc2 with a (logarithmic) median of $`25`$ mJy kpc2. Clearly, the luminosity limits achievable with the SKA at the low end will not only provide an essentially complete census of the Milky Way pulsars but reasonable integration times even allow the discovery (and study!) of pulsars in nearby galaxies. We will firstly consider the implications resulting from the large number of pulsars that will be discovered.

### 2.1. Studying the pulsar population

In seems possible that the largest part, if not all, of the Galactic radio pulsars beaming towards Earth will be discovered with the SKA, i.e. about 20,000 pulsar could be found. This Galactic Census of pulsars opens up new horizons in the study of a variety of subjects.

#### Pulsar as neutron stars.

The observations of relativistic effects in binary pulsars allows the measurements of neutron stars masses. Most straightforward is the detection of a Shapiro time delay due to a companion for nearly edge-on orbits. Currently, the number of binary systems with such fortuitously aligned orbits is rather limited, but the combination of number of binary pulsars discovered and the sensitivity with the resulting timing precision will allow the measurement of many more neutron star masses. A manifold increase in the available statistics will allow to study the amount of matter accreted during a spin-up process and will also help in studying the neutron star equation-of-state.

The study of the latter will also benefit from the vastly improved statistics of observed pulse periods. Currently, the found periods range from 1.5 ms to 8.5 s. The discovery of even smaller rotational periods will provide significant insight in the properties and stiffness of the ultra-dense liquid interior of neutron stars. Even the case of a “null result”, that no period shorter than 1.5 ms will be found, will have consequence as it requires the existence of a limiting period not far away from the currently observed value. At the other extreme end, the discovery of very long period pulsars, isolated or in binary systems, will establish the connection of radio pulsars to magnetars, Soft-Gamma ray Repeaters (SGRs) and Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs), deciding as to whether these are distinct classes of neutron stars or simply different evolutionary stages or end products.

#### Pulsars as radio sources.

Despite (or perhaps, ’because of’!) many intensive studies of the pulsar emission features occurring on timescales from nanoseconds to hours, weeks and months, the nature of the emission process is still unknown. One of the problems is the need to separate intrinsic effects from those caused by propagation. Moreover, it seems clear that solving the pulsar emission mechanism requires the observations of individual radio pulses. Only a limited number of pulsars is currently known that are luminous enough for such experiments. In particular, the needed multi-frequency observations are constrained by the relatively small number of pulsars that can be studied with sufficiently bright single pulses across a wide frequency range, and by the limited availability of large sensitive telescopes. The SKA will not only provide sufficient sensitivity at high frequencies (depending on design), increasing the sample of pulsars that can be studied to hundreds or more, but a combination of sub-arrays and/or multi-frequency feeds could perform these observations easily across a wide range of frequencies.

Many more very faint pulsars will be detected and the luminosity distribution of pulsars can finally be established. As we can expect from the recent discovery of faint neutron stars in deep searches (e.g. Camilo et al. 2002), many more neutron stars observed at high energies will have a detectable radio counterpart. Hence, the simultaneous availability of new gamma-ray telescopes like GLAST will mean that the relationship between the emission processes and plasma particles involved at the far ends of the electromagnetic spectrum can be studied in great detail,

### 2.2. Pulsars as probes

#### Mapping the Galaxy.

The emission of radio pulsars interacts with the ionized magnetized mediums it propagates through. The pulses become dispersed and scattered while the position angle of the linearly polarized emission component undergoes Faraday rotation depending on electron density and magnetic field. The currently best model for the electron density distribution in the Galaxy by Cordes & Lazio (2002) demonstrates impressively how information about dispersion and scattering measures for a large number of independent line-of-sights to pulsars located in different parts of the Milky Way can be used to establish an increasingly detailed knowledge. A Galactic Census of pulsars will provide so many lines-of-sight that, in particular with a combination of HI absorption measurements, distances, electron densities and scattering measures will be determined in such numbers that very detailed modelling becomes possible and a complete 3-D map of the Galaxy unfolds.

#### Globular clusters.

The study of millisecond pulsars in globular clusters has been rejuvenated in the last few years by a much increased number of discovered pulsars, adding also to the list of clusters with known pulsar content (e.g. D’Amico et al. 2001). The example of 47 Tucanae with more than 20 millisecond pulsars has provided already a good example for the kind of science that becomes possible by having the chance to study many more pulsars in this or similar clusters (Freire et al. 2003): It will be possible to use these pulsars to probe the clusters’ gravitational potential, their evolutionary stage, the stellar interaction and the intracluster medium. We already achieve “sub-milliarcsecond per year” precision in proper motion measurements and we start to see the relative motion of the pulsars in the cluster. However, with the current sensitivity and precision, further progress will be slow and it will need another 10 years or so to break the 0.01 mas/yr boundary. With an SKA we can achieve a proper motion measurement for 47TUC J, the brightest MSP in 47Tuc, of sub-$`\mu `$as/yr precision in about 2 years of weekly observations. This will also yield the distance of this 5-kpc cluster due to parallax measurements to better than 2%. This is a precision which even future astrometry missions like GAIA will not be able to surpass.

### 2.3. Gravitational Physics

One of the most exciting motivations to find lots of new pulsars is the prospect of finding some very exciting and exotic systems. The available computer power will enable us to do much more sophisticated searches than possible today, and the sensitivity allows much shorter integration times, so that searches for fast accelerated pulsars will not be limited anymore. Hence, the discovery rate for relativistic binaries is certain to increase. But even in the worst case scenario, with a detection rate remaining unchanged, we should expect at least hundred relativistic binaries, or so, that provide exciting test ground for gravitational physics. We should find more planetary systems, we may find (over-determined!) double pulsar systems and perhaps even exotic or strange stars. Studying regions of high stellar density with an increased probability of stellar interactions, such as globular clusters and the Galactic centre (which is particularly interesting due to its conditions favouring more massive stars) should provide us with “the holy grail” of a pulsar-stellar black hole system, or even with a millisecond pulsar orbiting a black hole. For the first time it would be possible to probe the properties of a black hole predicted by Einstein’s theory of gravity.

#### Properties of black holes

The current best candidates for a stellar black holes are provided by dynamical mass estimates in X-ray binaries. While it seems accepted that any unseen companion with a mass exceeding $`3M_{}`$ is a likely black hole candidate, the mass limit is somewhat uncertain due to possible effects of rotation or even the speculated existence of Boson- or even Q-stars for which no reliable mass estimate exists. A realistic black hole should also rotate, which allows us for a black hole of mass $`M`$ to define a (dimension less) spin, $`\chi =cS/GM^2`$, and quadrupole moment, $`q=c^4Q/G^2M^3`$, whereas $`S`$ is the angular moment and $`Q`$ is the quadrupole moment. In GR we have $`\chi 1`$ for Kerr-black holes, while $`\chi >1`$ indicates a naked singularity. In fact, a measurement of both $`\chi `$ and $`q`$ can be used to identify the nature of the unseen companion, e.g. for a Kerr-BH we find $`q10\chi ^2`$, while for a neutron star, $`q=\chi ^2`$. A rotating boson star may yield $`q=C\chi ^2`$ with $`2.0C12.1`$ (Wex & Kopeikin 1999).

It has been suggested that frame dragging could be measured by pulsar timing to identify a black hole companion to a pulsar in an edge-on orbit(Laguna & Wolszczan 1997). Unfortunately this effect would be superposed on the usually stronger light-bending effect (Doroshenko & Kopeikin 1995) which would make the detection of the frame dragging effect difficult. Alternatively, the most promising way is to measure non-linear changes in the longitude of periastron, $`\omega `$, and the projected semi-major axis, $`x`$, caused by the gravitomagnetic field (Wex & Kopeikin 1999). Again, the precessional effects to be searched for will be superposed on other effects, but separating these effects on the way, will provide an exciting tour de force through tests of gravity in its own right. Competing effects for the observed change in $`x`$ are

$$\left(\frac{\dot{x}}{x}\right)^{obs}=\left(\frac{\dot{x}}{x}\right)^{pre}+\left(\frac{\dot{a}_p}{a_p}\right)^{gw}+\left(\frac{\dot{x}}{x}\right)^{pm}+\left(\frac{\dot{D}}{D}\right)+\left(\frac{dϵ_a}{dt}\right)$$
(2)
The first term is the one to be measured, the second term is due to the shrinkage of the orbit due to gravitational wave emission, the third term arises from a motion of the system relative to the observer , the fourth term is due to an acceleration in an external gravitational potential while the last term is due to geodetic precession. All but the first term have been studied in pulsars and binary systems already (e.g. Weisberg & Taylor 2003, van Straten et al. 2001, Kramer 1998), so that with the increased precision of the SKA we should be able to handle them even easier. Still, unless a millisecond pulsar in orbit around a black hole can be found, the task of measuring the black hole properties will even be a challenging for the SKA. But it is not impossible and it would be surely among the most remarkable discoveries that is likely to be made with the SKA.

#### Cosmological Gravitational Wave Background

Monitoring a large sample of millisecond pulsars in a so-called Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) offers the means to detect the stochastic gravitational wave background that is expected in various cosmological theories (e.g. Foster & Backer 1990). The PTA would be used to search for (correlated) structures in the timing residuals of MSPs distributed across the sky. It will be sensitive to long-wave gravitational signals and is therefore complementary to current ground-based gravitational wave detectors such as GEO600 or LIGO and even future detectors such as LIGO-II or LISA. With a rough estimate of about 1000 millisecond pulsars to be discovered, the SKA would not only provide the necessary dense PTA but also the means of achieving the necessary sub-$`mu`$s timing precision that will be needed to extract the weak signal.

### 2.4. Extragalactic pulsars

We have already seen above that standard searches with the SKA should result in the discovery of pulsars in the most nearby galaxies, allowing to study the population of pulsars as seen from the distance and for different star formation histories. This search volume can be further expanded if we search for giant pulses rather than for periodic signals (e.g. McLaughlin 2001). We could possibly reach a distance of 5 Mpc or even 10 Mpc, and depending on the strength of the pulses, larger distances are not impossible. Even though the study (and timing!) of these far away pulsars would be virtually impossible, their giant pulses can still be used study the distribution of pulsars in galaxies of different types, and to investigate the ionized medium in the host galaxies and intergalactic space.

### 2.5. Value Added Science

The above is clearly only a fraction of the science that will be achievable with the SKA – and that only in the area of pulsar astrophysics! There is much more I should have added and which deserves much more attention. Examples are the interior of neutron stars, birth properties of pulsars, neutron star-supernova associations, stellar, binary and planetary evolution, core collapse physics, astrometry, metrology, time keeping to name only a few.

## 3. Conclusions

Most of the science suggested here can be achieved with the proposed strawman design. Simulations studying the multi-beaming requirements for the pulsar case are underway, as the timing of about 20,000 pulsars is certainly a challenging task even for a multi-beaming telescope. Some long baseline capabilities are desirable for astrometric purposes (1 mas at 5 GHz). The required upper frequency limit is relatively modest but should be around 15 GHz which is necessary to penetrate the scattering screen towards the inner Galaxy. Additionally, pulsar science sets tough requirements for the correlator in terms of dump time (about $`5\mu `$s for timing, $`50\mu `$s for searching) and bandwidth that can be processed. Overall, the science case in its potential and diversity appears overwhelming, so that if there would not be a SKA anyway, there should be at least one to study pulsars.

##### Acknowledgments.

The science case is developed in collaboration with many colleagues across the world, and in particular with those directly involved in the Ratio Transient working group of the ISAC i.e. Joe Lazio (chair), Don Backer, Jim Cordes, Justin Jones, Michael Rupen, and Jill Tarter.

## References

Camilo, F., et al., 2002, ApJ, 579, 25

Cordes, J.M., Lazio, J., 2002, astro-ph/0007310

D’Amico, N., et al., 2001, ApJ, 548, 171

Doroshenko, O.V., Kopeikin, S.M., 1995, MNRAS, 274, 1029

Foster, R.S., Backer, D.C., 1990, ApJ, 361, 300

Freire, P.C.C., et al., 2003, MNRAS, 340, 1359

Hobbs, G., Lyne, A.G., Kramer, M., 2003, in Radio Pulsars, ASP Conf. Ser., eds. M. Bailes, D. Nice, & S. Thorsett

Kramer, M. 1998, ApJ, 509, 856

Laguna, P., Wolszczan, A., 1997, ApJ, 486, L27

Lange, Ch., et al., 2001, MNRAS, 326, 724

Lommen, A., 2001, PhD-thesis, University of California at Berkeley

McLaughlin, M.A., 2001, Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University

van Straten, W., et al., 2001, Nature, 412, 158

Weisberg, J., Taylor, J.H., 2003, in Radio Pulsars, ASP Conf. Ser., eds. M. Bailes, D. Nice, & S. Thorsett

Wex, N., Kopeikin, S.M., 1999, ApJ, 415, 388


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# HST/NICMOS Observations of the Embedded Cluster in NGC 2024: Constraints on the IMF and Binary Fraction

## 1 Introduction

Two fundamental questions regarding star formation concern the universality of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) and the fraction of stars which exist in multiple systems at birth. More specifically, it is not known whether the functional form of the IMF is dependent on the local characteristics of a star-forming environment, or if it is universal, unchanging between different regions. A similar question exists regarding the fraction of stars observed to be in multiple systems in a star-forming region: is there a correlation between this binary fraction and the characteristics of star-forming regions, such as cluster age and central stellar density? If so, what is this correlation? NGC 2024, a young embedded cluster associated with an H II region in the Orion B giant molecular cloud provides a good opportunity to investigate both of these aspects of star formation. The relatively high density of the cluster compared to other star-forming regions allows us to study a statistically significant sample in a small field-of-view, while the extinction through the associated cloud core is high enough to eliminate contamination from background sources. Additionally, the high resolution of the data taken with the Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) onboard the *Hubble Space Telescope* (*HST*) presented in this study allows us to study the cluster at higher spatial resolution in the J and H-bands than previously done. These data are also complimentary to previous observations of the embedded cluster in NGC 2024 done in the I-band with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 onboard HST (Padgett, Strom, & Ghez, 1997) and in the K-band with adaptive optics (Beck, Simon, & Close, 2003, hereafter BSC03).

The IMF of several nearby star-forming regions has been well studied in recent years. The first study which investigated the field star IMF over a large range of masses ($`0.1M_{\mathrm{}}`$ to $`10M_{\mathrm{}}`$) was Miller & Scalo (1979) and has been subsequently updated by Scalo (1986) and Kroupa (2001), among others. Previous investigation into the IMF in young clusters in Orion include the near-IR study of the Trapezium by Luhman et al. (2000) as well as studies of NGC 2024 including those by Comerón, Rieke, & Rieke (1996) and Meyer (1996). These studies, along with studies of other star-forming regions, have shown evidence that the IMF is universal, unchanging regardless of local environmental conditions (Meyer et al., 2000). Our study of NGC 2024 will assess the similarity of the cluster IMF to those derived in previous studies by comparing the ratio of intermediate ($`1.010M_{\mathrm{}}`$) to low ($`0.11.0M_{\mathrm{}}`$) mass objects in NGC 2024 to the ratio expected from IMFs derived in Kroupa (2001) for the field. This ratio can be determined by using near-infrared photometry of the cluster which is then compared to theoretical models of pre-main sequence (PMS) objects, provided an estimate for the cluster age is available. As a diagnostic for the IMF, the primary advantages of using this ratio lies with the fact that the mass bins are wider than the errors in stellar mass determination from PMS models, hence the value of the ratio should be robust even with these uncertainties. However, the use of wide mass bins also makes this diagnostic insensitive to small variations in the IMF, allowing one to probe only dramatic differences between mass distributions. Nonetheless, by comparing this ratio determined for NGC 2024 to that of the Galactic field, we can probe the possibility of gross differences in the mass distribution.

The binary frequency of stellar populations has also been the focus of many recent studies, and an area of particular interest lies in determining how the binary fraction of a particular region is affected by the local environment. A study by Duquennoy & Mayor (1991) investigated solar neigborhood stars over a large mass range ($`q=M_{comp}/M_{pri}=0.1`$ to 1.0) and period distribution (1 to $`10^{10}`$ days). Other studies have investigated the binary fraction in star-forming regions. Ghez, Neugebauer, & Matthews (1993) found the binary frequency in T Tauri stars in Taurus-Auriga and Ophiuchus-Scorpius to be $`60\pm 17`$ %, about four times greater than the binary frequency derived by Duquennoy & Mayor (1991) for field stars. Padgett, Strom, & Ghez (1997) presented the binary fraction for optical sources in three clusters in Orion: NGC 2024, NGC 2068 and NGC 2071. Using WFPC2 HST observations, they found the binary fraction to be roughly equal to that of the field over the separation range studied (138 to 1050 AU). Although it is not known exactly how the local environment affects the detected binary fraction in these clusters, there is evidence that it varies between clusters with different central stellar densities and ages (Köhler & Brandner, 2001). By measuring the binary frequency in NGC 2024, we can gain further insight into the binary frequency of a region which is intermediate in central stellar density to the sparse T association of Taurus-Auriga and the rich environment of Trapezium. It also provides an independent check of the binary fraction derived for NGC 2024 by other studies, including Padgett, Strom, & Ghez (1997) and BSC03.

In this study, we present high resolution imaging of NGC 2024 obtained using NICMOS onboard *HST*. The high resolution of the dataset allows us to obtain more accurate photometry of crowded objects and those embedded in nebulosity. It also allows better sensitivity to companions at close separations. Section 2 describes the observations and data reduction procedure and presents some noteworthy features in the image. An analysis and discussion of the color-magnitude diagram (CMD) of the cluster is presented in §3, followed by the results for our binary fraction study in §4. We summarize and conclude in §5.

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

Images of the young embedded cluster associated with NGC 2024 were obtained on 1998 January 17 using Camera 3 of the NICMOS (NIC3) on *HST*. Nine images, each $`52\mathrm{}`$ by $`52\mathrm{}`$, were taken with each filter (F110W and F160W) in a 3 by 3 mosaic pattern, resulting in a total field of view of $`124\mathrm{}`$ by $`124\mathrm{}`$ centered upon 05h 41m 42.4s, -1$`\mathrm{°}`$ $`55\mathrm{}`$ 15$`\mathrm{}`$ .9. Adjacent frames overlapped by approximately $`8\mathrm{}`$ (15%). Integration times were 96 s for F110W and 80 s for F160W. These observations were taken as part of GTO/NIC program 7217 to support grism observations of the same field.

Data reduction was carried out using a combination of IRAF and custom IDL programs. The images were dark subtracted using artificial dark frames created with the *nicskydark* routine in the *nicred* package for IRAF (McLeod, 1997). Each frame suffered from an offset in background level between the quadrants of the array. The offsets were determinined in a manner identical to that of Luhman et al. (2000) by minimizing the median of the differences of the pixels on the borders. Using the top right quadrant as the reference qudrant, the offsets were applied to the two adjacent quadrants. The final quadrant was offset to minimize the difference with the two adjacent frames. Flat fielding was performed after correcting the quadrant offsets with flats from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), also using the *nicred* data reduction package. Bad pixels in the frames (i.e., cosmic rays and other artifacts) were located initially with STScI bad pixel masks, followed by visual inspection of each frame. Aberrant pixels were replaced using the IRAF task *fixpix*, which replaces pixels using a linear interpolation of surrounding pixels. The nine images in each band were mosaicked, adjusting the background offsets for each frame in a manner similar to the quadrant offset adjustment. Figure 1 shows the final mosaicked two-color image of the central cluster. Some interesting features and characteristics of the image are discussed in Section 2.3.

### 2.1 Photometry

Ninety-five sources were detected in both the F110W and F160W filters. Photometry was obtained for 79 of these sources in both bands, the remaining sources being either too bright (i.e. saturated) or too faint for accurate photometry. These sources, as well as the photometry, are presented in Table 1, and their positions are shown in Figure 2. Initial detections were made with the IRAF task *daofind* with a $`10\sigma `$ detection threshold. Even with the high initial threshold, each frame produced many false detections, due to a noisy background and the presence of nebulosity in the region. These spurious detections were removed through visual inspection of each frame. All final sources were detected in both the F110W and F160W frames. Photometry was extracted for each source using the *apphot* routine in IRAF. Since NIC3 undersamples the point spread function (PSF) of the sources, aperture photometry was used for all sources. Aperture corrections were calculated using several bright, isolated stars and applied to the photometry to correct for total signal. An analysis of aperture corrections versus sky noise showed the optimal aperture to be 5 pixels for most sources, with the sky background measured in an annulus from 5-7 pixels around each source. The sky annulus was measured as close as possible to the aperture so that the effect of variablility from nebulosity was minimized. Apertures and sky annuli were adjusted to obtain accurate photometry of close companions (see Section 4.1 for further details about the binary detections).

Relative astrometry for each source was determined using the World Coordinate System (WCS) information in the NIC3 header with the *xy2sky* routine in the WCSTools package (Mink, 2002). The derived coordinates had a fixed offset with respect to previously determined coordinates (e.g., Meyer (1996), among others). Absolute astrometry was derived by correcting for the offset using the coordinates in Meyer (1996) for the brightest sources in the field, IRS1 and IRS2, as a reference. The coordinates are presented in Table 1 and are accurate to $`2\mathrm{}`$, though none of the analyses in this study are dependent upon absolute astrometry. Also listed in Table 1 are the ID numbers from BSC03, if the object was detected in both studies.

### 2.2 Magnitude Calibration and Color Transformations

IRAF magnitudes were calibrated to the Vega system assuming 2.873 $`\times 10^6`$ and 2.776 $`\times 10^6`$ Jy/ADU/s and zero magnitude fluxes of 1775 and 1083 Jy for F110W and F160W respectively. Detection limits were determined using a series of artificial star tests. Artificial stars from 17th to 22nd magnitude in steps of 0.5 mag were added to each of the data frames in both bands using a PSF derived from several uncrowded sources in areas relatively free of nebulosity. The recovery fraction of our detection technique was then assessed. The 90 % competeness limits were found to be $`m_{110}19.5`$ mag and $`m_{160}18.0`$ mag.

The NICMOS Vega magnitudes, $`m_{110}`$ and $`m_{160}`$, were transformed to the ground-based CIT system, J and H. Comparisons of $`m_{110}`$ vs. J, $`m_{160}`$ vs. H, and $`(m_{110}m_{160})`$ vs. (J - H) were made for 21 objects common to this study and a ground-based study of NGC 2024 by Meyer (1996). A linear regession was performed on these relations to obtain the following color transformations:

$`H=(0.358\pm 0.080)+(0.935\pm 0.006)m_{160}`$
$`(JH)=(0.734\pm 0.060)+(1.05\pm 0.02)(m_{110}m_{160})`$
The $`m_{160}`$ vs. H, and $`(m_{110}m_{160})`$ vs. (J - H) relations resulted in the smallest error for the linear fit, and were therefore used to transform the NICMOS magnitudes to the ground-based CIT magnitudes, with J for each source calculated by using the transformed H-band magnitude and the (J - H) color: $`J=H+(JH)`$. A J vs. (J - H) CMD of the cluster is presented in Figure 3. An analysis and discussion of the CMD will follow in the next section.

### 2.3 Prominent Features in the Image

Given the high resolution of the data, our images show in great detail the nebulosity and stellar distribution at the center of the cluster. There are several features worth noting. The brightest source on the west is IRS1, while IRS2 is the bright source on the east. Overall, the image shows a color gradient from east to west in both the nebulosity and stars, indicating that the east side is more deeply embedded than the west side.

The nebulosity in the region also shows interesting structure in places. The bright knot of nebulosity located about 40” southeast of the center of the field-of-view (just SE of source 1-21) has several interesting characteristics. First, the center of the knot seems to contain an extended source, possibly a deeply embedded protostellar object. It is also interesting to note that the location of the knot corresponds roughly to a compact dust condensation (FIR4) identified by Mezger et al. (1988, 1992) at 350 and 1300 $`\mu m`$. Previous detection of this emission have also been made at longer near-IR wavelengths (1.6 to 3.6 $`\mu m`$) by Moore & Chandler (1989) and Moore & Yamashita (1995) and at 450 and 800 $`\mu m`$ by Visser et al. (1998). Two other FIR objects (FIR2 & 3) identified in the Mezger et al. (1988, 1992) are also within the field-of-view of this study; the nearby sources detected in this study are noted in Table 1. Chandler & Carlstrom (1996) performed observations of these same FIR sources at 98 and 112 GHz and found them to be consistent with extended dust emission surrounding embedded protostars as well as an outflow for FIR4.

## 3 The Color-Magnitude Diagram and Cluster IMF

### 3.1 Analysis of the CMD

Analyses of the CMD were performed in the natural NICMOS system as well as the transformed CIT magnitudes. We sought to derive a ratio of intermediate (1.0 to $`10M_{\mathrm{}}`$) to low (0.1 to $`1.0M_{\mathrm{}}`$) mass stars in order to compare it to the expected ratio for the field star IMF of Miller & Scalo (1979) and Kroupa (2001). Two sets of models were used for comparison to the cluster CMD, including the models of Baraffe et al. (1998) in both NICMOS and CIT systems, and D’Antona & Mazzitelli (1997, updated in 1998; hereafter DM98) in the CIT system, the latter of which covers objects with masses less than $`0.3M_{\mathrm{}}`$. Above this mass, we adopt the models of D’Antona & Mazzitelli (1994). Figure 3 shows the cluster CMD in the CIT system along with the 3 $`\times 10^5`$ yr isochrone of DM98. An age of 3 $`\times 10^5`$ yr was adopted for the cluster, as this was determined to be the median age of embedded objects through an analysis of the H-R diagram by Meyer (1996) using models of D’Antona & Mazzitelli (1994). The reddening vector ($`A_V=10`$ mag) is also shown, (Cohen et al., 1981) as is the 90 % completeness threshold discussed above. The subsample used to calculate the ratio is extinction limited at $`A_V=18`$ mag and $`A_V=17.1`$ mag for the 3 $`\times 10^5`$ yr and 1 Myr isochrones, respectively. The samples were extinction limited to ensure that we were sensitive to all masses from 0.1 to $`10.0M_{\mathrm{}}`$ uniformly, and not sampling massive, more luminous objects deeper into the cloud (Meyer, 1996). The number of objects used in calculating the ratio for each model set ranged from 12 to 19.

Masses of objects were determined by dereddening onto an isochrone, assuming no infrared excess in the J and H-bands. In order to evaluate the possible effect of infrared excess, a (J - H) vs. (H - K) color-color diagram was created for 67 of the sources using K-band photometry from Meyer (1996) matched to sources detected in this study (Figure 4). K-band photometry for close companions unresolved in Meyer (1996) was taken from BSC03. The JHK color-color plot shows that 46 out of 67 sources are reddened main sequence (RMS) or weak-lined T Tauri stars (WTTS). Fourteen sources are classical T Tauri stars (CTTS), and seven are objects with more extreme infrared colors. In our extinction limited sample, $`6/16=38\pm 15`$ of the sources have IR excess, which is similar to the fraction of stars with IR excess found by Meyer (1996) and Haisch, Lada, & Lada (2000). Even with the significant fraction of IR excess objects, we do not expect them to affect our results greatly. The expected J and H-band excess for a typical CTTS would result in an effect only on the order of our photometric errors (Meyer, Calvet, & Hillenbrand, 1997). If the infrared excess was greater than expected, as is possible for the 7 more extreme IR-excess sources, one would expect the excess to be greater in H-band than J-band. This would lead to an over-estimation of an object’s reddening and luminosity, and therefore mass. Hence the ratio of intermediate to low mass objects would be over-estimated as well. However, the three extreme objects in the extinction limited sample have already been classified as low mass objects, therefore we are confident that these objects have been correctly characterized as low mass objects.

The ratio of intermediate to low mass objects was determined to be $`0.32\pm 0.22`$, consistent with the expected ratio using the IMF presented in Miller & Scalo (1979) and Kroupa (2001) (see Section 3.2 below for further discussion). We also determined this ratio for several different isochrones in order to ascertain the effects of 1) the uncertainty in cluster age, 2) different PMS models, and 3) our color transformations. Isochrones used in this analysis included the 3 $`\times 10^5`$ yr and 1 Myr DM98 models in the CIT magnitude system and the 1 Myr (youngest available) Baraffe et al. (1998) isochrones in both the CIT and natural NICMOS magnitude systems. For each isochrone, the ratio of intermediate to low mass objects was determined. These results are listed in Table 2 and discussed below.

Figure 5 shows a distribution of expected ratios of intermediate (1.0 to $`10M_{\mathrm{}}`$) to low (0.1 to $`1.0M_{\mathrm{}}`$) mass objects for a Miller-Scalo IMF (Miller & Scalo, 1979) along with the ratios determined from the cluster CMD using the different isochrones. Ten thousand artificial samples of 20 stars were generated assuming a Miller-Scalo IMF and the relative probabilities of obtaining different ratios of intermediate to low mass stars are indicated by the vertical bars. The data points show the derived ratios for each set of models in each magnitude system. Errors shown are $`\sqrt{n}`$ errors from counting the number of intermediate and low mass objects. Using the DM98 models and assuming a cluster age of 3 $`\times 10^5`$ yr yielded good agreement between the cluster ratio and the ratio expected in a field star IMF. Adopting an older cluster age resulted in a higher fraction of intermediate mass objects in all cases, due to the luminosity evolution as a function of time for a given mass star. The Baraffe et al. (1998) isochrones result in a higher ratio of intermediate mass objects than do the DM98 isochrones. It is, however, important to note that the transformation of the pre-main sequence tracks to the observational plane were done in a different manner for the two sets of models. Baraffe et al. (1998) derived colors and magnitudes by convolving their evolutionary models with stellar atmosphere models in the CIT and NICMOS systems. The DM98 tracks were transformed to the observational plane by adopting bolometric corrections and intrinsic colors of dwarf stars (Meyer, 1996, Appendix C). This difference in transformation between theoretical and observational planes may be reflected in the difference in the ratios calculated for the two sets of models. The bottom two data points show the difference in the derived ratio of intermediate to low mass objects between the CIT and NICMOS magnitude systems. These points indicate that the untransformed magnitudes in the natural NICMOS system yield a lower ratio. Again, this difference may be a result of different methods by which the models were transformed to the observational plane, or our color transformations, or both. Our results indicate that the ratio of intermediate to low mass objects in NGC 2024 is consistent with the field star IMF in the solar neighborhood for all of the models used, as well as for the CIT and NICMOS magnitude systems.

The measured ratio of intermediate to low mass objects was also compared to a theoretical value expected from the field IMF presented by Kroupa (2001). By integrating the IMF over the two appropriate mass ranges and taking the ratio of the integrals, we find a theoretical ratio of $`0.199\pm 0.103`$. This $`1\sigma `$ error was calculated for the binomial distribution (with a sample of 15 stars and a probability of success taken as $`p=0.199`$, the probability of choosing an intermediate mass star). We find that our results for NGC 2024 are consistent with the ratio expected from a Kroupa (2001) IMF.

### 3.2 Discussion of the CMD and IMF

Previous studies have investigated the nature of the IMF, both in the field and in star-forming regions. Our results have found that none of the models used, or ages assumed, result in a ratio of intermediate to low mass objects that is inconsistent with the field star IMF determined by Miller & Scalo (1979) or Kroupa (2001). Comerón, Rieke, & Rieke (1996) found the power law slope of the IMF in NGC 2024 to be $`1.2`$ in linear mass units for low mass ($`0.04M/M_{\mathrm{}}0.5`$) objects, similar to the form of the IMF derived in Kroupa (2001) for field stars. Our results appear to confirm the agreement between the IMF in NGC 2024 and the field for stellar objects within the mass range of $`0.1M_{\mathrm{}}`$ to $`10.0M_{\mathrm{}}`$. It should be noted, however, that because our sample includes a small number of stars in the extinction limited sample, that the IMF of the region would need to differ very significantly from the field star IMF for any effect to be detectable.

Our results also show that color transformations and the different models and ages used result in small differences in the ratio of intermediate to low mass objects, but that the values agree within errors. We make no conclusions regarding the relative abundance of brown dwarfs, as our study is not sensitive to a significant number of objects with masses in the brown dwarf regime. Within the Av-limited sample, the least massive object in our study had a mass at the hydrogen burning limit. The substellar IMF for the Trapezium (Luhman et al., 2000) and IC 348 (Najita, Tiede, & Carr, 2000) have been recently investigated, and if the IMF in star-forming regions is indeed very similar, as current evidence suggests, one may expect to find a significant number of substellar objects in NGC 2024 as well.

## 4 The Binary Fraction

### 4.1 Binary Fraction Results

Each of the 95 sources detected in both bands was carefully inspected for evidence of multiplicity. Three binary candidates were identified in the sample with separations between $`0\mathrm{}.4`$ and $`1\mathrm{}.0`$ and up to a difference of 4 mag between the primary and companion. All companions were verified in both the J- and H-bands. This angular separation range translates into a projected linear separation range of 184 to 460 AU assuming a cluster distance of 460 pc. We assume that the statistical distribution of true semi-major axes is the same as the distribution of observed separations (Reipurth & Zinnecker, 1993, and references therein). The outer limit of 1”.0 was set to ensure that the probability of a coincidental superposition of stars, given the surface density of sources in the cluster, did not exceed 1 %<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1We examined the number of companions out to $`2\mathrm{}`$ and found the number of additional associations expected from chance projections.. Given the average surface density of the cluster and the 95 detected sources, it is possible that one of these candidates is a coincidental association. A difference of 4 mag between the primary and companion corresponds to a mass ratio of $`q=M_{comp}/M_{pri}0.1`$ at an age of 3 $`\times 10^5`$ yr. As the 95 potential primaries ranged in mass from $`0.1M_{\mathrm{}}`$ to $`2.3M_{\mathrm{}}`$, our characteristic primary mass was taken to be $`1.0M_{\mathrm{}}`$. The binary candidates, their separations from their primaries, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_J`$ are listed in Table 3.

Since these binary candidates were intially detected by *daofind* as a single source, photometry was performed separately on each of the companions by visually determining the centroid of each companion, and using a smaller aperture to perform the photometry (aperture of 2 pixels with a sky annulus of 5-7 pixels). The appropriate aperture corrections were made for the new aperture size. The mass of each object was determined by dereddening onto the $`3\times 10^5`$ yr DM98 isochrone, and values of q were calculated. The q values for each binary are listed in Table 3

A series of artificial star tests were performed in order to assess the competeness of our visual detection technique in identifying companions over the separations and magnitude differences described above. Artificial stars were randomly generated with a range of separations and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_J`$ and placed as companions to real sources in several of the data frames. The artificial companions were then subject to the same visual inspection used to find the binary candidates. Table 5 shows the recovery fraction of artificial companions as a function of separation and difference in magnitude between the primary and companion. The number of artificially generated companions in each separation-magnitude bin was between 10 and 20 with a median of 11. None of the artificial stars generated were below the 90 % completeness limits for the photometry described in Section 2.2.

Binary detections were 90 % complete for the following range of separations and mass ratios. At 184 AU (2 pixels) we were sensitive to equal mass companions ($`q=1`$). At 276 AU, $`q=0.2`$ was the detection limit, and from 325 AU to 460 AU detections were sensitive down to $`q=0.1`$. Over this range of separations and mass ratios, 3 binaries out of 95 potential primaries yielded a binary fraction of $`0.032_{0.025}^{+0.018}`$. This error includes $`\sqrt{n}`$ counting errors and the possibility of a coincidental superposition of stars.

It is interesting to compare the sample of binaries detected in this study to that of BSC03. Out of our sample of three binaries, one of them, 4-11a & b is also detected by BSC03. The derived separations are comparable, $`0\mathrm{}.42`$ in this study and $`0\mathrm{}.39`$ in the BSC03 study. The other binaries found in this study, 1-11a & b and 3-5a & b, were not resolved by BSC03, as they were not observed with AO by their study. There were also two binaries identified BSC03 not identified in this study. The first (BSC03 ID 88 & 89) only detected as a single source (ID 2-7) by this study, with no evidence of a companion. It is possible that the companion to this star is deeply embedded, hence only detected in the K-band. The other binary (BSC03 ID 54 & 55), source 7-5 in this study, appears to be marginally resolved in the J-band, with some evidence of multiplicity and a separation of $`0\mathrm{}.4`$ in our J-band image. However, the detection was unverified in the H-band, as the brightness of the object makes it difficult to resolve close companions. Additionally, the close separation suggests that it would have fallen out of the separation range probed by this study. Three of the pairs identified by BSC03 (ID 67 & 64; 70 & 71; 70 & 72) were detected by this study, but have separations greater than the maximum separation considered. The other binaries detected by BSC03 not mentioned above fall outside of the field-of-view of our observations.

Our desire was to compare the binary fraction of NGC 2024 to that of solar neighborhood field stars determined by Duquennoy & Mayor (1991, hereafter DM91). Thus it was necessary to be certain that we were comparing equivalent separations and mass ratios between the two studies. Our study was sensitive to companions with linear projected separations of 184 to 460 AU, corresponding to an orbital period of log P \[days\]$`6.0`$ to 6.5 for a characteristic system mass of $`1.0M_{\mathrm{}}`$. This is approximately one-half bin in Figure 7 of DM91 which shows the companion period distribution in their study. The following calculations were made to arrive at an expected number of binaries from the companion distribution in DM91 for each of our four separation bins (centered upon 184, 276, 368, and 460 AU). In the range log P \[days\]$`=6.0`$ to 7.0, DM91 found a binary fraction of 8.5 %. Our separation range covers only half the DM91 bin, so the binary fraction for 184 to 460 AU was taken to be 4.25 %. There were 95 potential primaries detected in our sample, leading to a expected number of binaries to be $`95\times 0.0425=4`$ binaries, assumed to be evenly distributed over our separation range. However, this assumes that we were sensitive to the same range of companion masses as DM91 over the entire separation range, which was not the case. To correct for this affect, we attempted to account for differences in the range of companion masses. For the mass of a typical primary in our sample ($`1.0M_{\mathrm{}}`$), we performed an integral of the companion mass distribution (taking the distribution to be a single power law :$`\frac{dN}{dM}M^\alpha `$) over the mass range to which we were 90 % complete. This was compared to the number of expected companions down to $`q=0.1`$. The ratio between the two integrals was used to adjust the expected number of binaries in each separation bin, to account for the fact that our mass sensitivity range was smaller than that of DM91. Correcting for this difference in sensitivity to low mass companions at close separations yielded 2.9 expected binaries over our separation range. Varying the power law index of the companion mass distribution between 1.5 and 0.5 yielded between 2.7 and 3.0 binaries over our separation range. One may note that this correction for mass sensitivity only reduced the expected number of binaries by about 1, which is within the errors for the number of detected binaries given the small number of detected binaries (i.e., the number of expected binaries both before and after the correction is consistent with the observed number). However, the correction does result in a decrease of about 25% in the expected number of binaries, hence for the most accurate possible comparison between the two studies, this step is crucial. Additionally, any application of this type of mass correction to larger samples would result in a more significant effect relative to counting errors.

Our study detected $`3_{2.5}^{+1.8}`$ binaries, consistent with the expected number for the solar neighborhood fraction. Table 4 summarizes the expected and detected number of binaries in each separation bins assuming different functional forms of the companion mass distribution. It is interesting to note that all of our detected binaries were at close separations, while we would expect to observe more binaries in the outer separations. This is consistent with the findings of Reipurth & Zinnecker (1993) who found the distribution of companion separations (for nearby southern dark clouds) to be a steeply rising function toward smaller separations.

The binary fraction of star-forming regions in the Orion B cloud have been the focus of previous studies, including Padgett, Strom, & Ghez (1997), which presented HST WFPC2 observations of three clusters (NGC 2024, NGC 2068, and NGC 2071). They found a binary fraction of $`0.15\pm 0.04`$ for a separation range of 138 to 1050 AU, which was about 1.3 times greater than solar neighborhood G and K stars. This suggests a slight excess of binaries in these regions; however, the signifigance of the excess with respect to the field was not high (Padgett, Strom, & Ghez, 1997). Our results are also in agreement with BSC03 who determined the binary fraction of NGC 2024 to be similar to that of the solar neighborhood using K-band adaptive optics observations.

### 4.2 Discussion of the Binary Fraction

Does the local environment of a star-forming region (characteristics such as stellar density) correlate with its binary fraction? We might expect that regions of higher stellar density are subject to more frequent interactions, which would disrupt binaries and lead to a lower binary fraction. To address this question we compared our results for the binary fraction of NGC 2024 to those of other star-forming regions in order to determine how NGC 2024 fits into the context of galactic star formation. Specifically, we evaluate whether a correlation can be found between the binary fraction of a young cluster and its central stellar density.

We begin by considering the binary fraction of NGC 2024 compared to star-forming regions of lower density. Two well-studied regions which fall into this category are the Taurus star-forming region and the Rho Ophiuchus dark cloud. The stellar density of $`\rho `$ Ophiuchus was determined to be more than a factor of two smaller than that of NGC 2024 (4000 $`pc^3`$). The density of Taurus is smaller still (Lada et al., 1991; Lada, Strom, & Myers, 1993). Ghez, Neugebauer, & Matthews (1993, hereafter GNM) performed K-band speckle imaging of the Taurus-Auriga and Ophiuchus-Scorpius star-forming regions and found a binary fraction of $`60\pm 17`$ %, about 4 times greater than DM91 for the same separation range. It is difficult to compare the binary fraction in the same *physical separation range* between these studies and ours, as the outermost separation probed by GNM is 252 AU, only 68 AU greater than the innermost separation for this study. However, in the overlap region of 184 to 252 AU, the binary fractions are 2/24 = $`8.3\pm 5.9`$% and 1/45 = $`2.2\pm 2.2`$% for Tau-Aur and Oph-Sco, respectively. In the overlap region, NGC 2024 has two binaries, and a binary fraction of 2/95 = $`2.1\pm 1.5`$%. While it is impossible to make a conclusive comparison due to the small sample size, the results do seem to suggest that the binary fraction of NGC 2024 is lower than that of Taurus-Auriga. Leinert et al. (1993) observed the Taurus-Auriga region with K-band speckle imaging and found a binary fration of $`42\pm 6`$ %, again enhanced relative to the field star fraction of DM91. Their angular separation range of 0”.13 to 13” translates to a linear projected distance of 18 to 349 AU assuming a distance of 140 pc. For the same linear separation range, DM91 found a binary fraction of about 20 %. Three low density star-forming regions in the southern sky are found in the dark clouds Chameleon, Lupus, and Corona Australis. Ghez et al. (1997) conducted a survey of these regions and found the binary fraction to be similar to Taurus and Ophiuchus, enhanced relative to the solar neighborhood (However, see Köhler (2001)). These results demonstrate that low density star-forming environments like those in Taurus seem to have significantly larger binary fractions than the environments in Orion and the field. This may indicate that the primary mode of star formation in the galaxy is not through T associations like Taurus.

The Trapezium cluster in Orion is a region of very high stellar density, about 3.5 times greater than that of NGC 2024 (Lada et al., 1991). The adaptive optics study of the Trapezium by Simon, Close, & Beck (1999) determined the binary fraction to be the same as DM91 for a separation range of 132 to 264 AU. These results were also similar to a study by Petr et al. (1998), who determined the binary fraction in the central 40” $`\times `$ 40” of the cluster using speckle observations in the $`K_s`$ and H bands. They found that the binary fraction agreed with that of main-sequence field stars, and a factor of 3 times lower than the Taurus-Auriga star-forming region. We found that our binary fraction for NGC 2024 was roughly equivalent to that of solar neighborhood field stars over the same separation range, after being corrected for differences in mass sensitivity. Thus, with regard to the binary fraction, it appears that the intermediate density young cluster in NGC 2024 is more similar to very dense clusters like Trapezium than low density star-forming regions such as Taurus. The similarity of the binary fraction in these dense regions compared to the field suggests the possibility that most galactic field stars tend to form in denser, richer environments. However, there is some evidence to suggest that Trapezium will form a bound cluster (Kroupa, Aarseth, & Hurley, 2001; Hillenbrand & Hartmann, 1998) and Adams & Myers (2001) estimates only a relatively small percentage of stars ($`10\%`$) in the galaxy form in regions which evolve into bound clusters. This may indicate that galactic field stars form in regions of relatively high stellar density, like NGC 2024, but not so high as to form bound clusters.

Figure 6 shows the binary fraction relative to the field versus the stellar density for five different star-forming regions with ages estimated to be 2 Myr or less. It shows that young clusters of high or intermediate densities have binary fractions similar to the field while Taurus, significantly less dense than the other regions, has a binary fraction enhanced relative to the field. A linear regression to the data points yields a fit with a decreasing binary fraction with increasing density. The correlation coefficient for the fit implies a $`80\%`$ probability that the fitted trend is not the result of a random distribution of points, which suggests that the trend is real. While the cause of the low binary fraction in regions of higher stellar density is not known, one possibility is that binaries are disrupted by dynamical interactions. Following the argument in Binney & Tremaine (1987), the lifetime of a soft binary ($`|E|<m\sigma ^2`$), the category in which all of the binaries in this study fall, is on the order of several Myr. As this relation varies inversely with the density of a given star forming region, one would expect to see a decrease in binary fraction with increasing stellar density in the regime where disruptions of binaries is ongoing, that is the age of the cluster is less than the lifetime of a typical soft binary. Although the number of clusters plotted is small, and the errors fairly large, there does seem to be a trend consistent with this line of reasoning.

## 5 Summary and Conclusions

We have presented high resolution images of the embedded cluster in NGC 2024 taken with NICMOS onboard *HST*. Ninety-five sources were detected in the F110W and F160W bands, and photometry was extracted for 79 of these sources and transformed into $`m_J`$ and $`m_H`$ magnitudes in the CIT system. A color-magnitude diagram was plotted, and the masses for the sources were determined using the pre-main sequence stellar models of D’Antona & Mazzitelli (1997) and Baraffe et al. (1998). The ratio of intermediate ($`1.010.0M_{\mathrm{}}`$) to low ($`0.11.0M_{\mathrm{}}`$) mass objects was found to be consistent with a field star IMF for isochrones of $`3\times 10^5`$ yr and 1 Myr.

A study of the binary fraction of the cluster was also completed. Three binary candidates were detected out of 95 potential primaries, resulting in a binary fraction of $`3.2_{2.5}^{+1.8}`$ % for a linear projected separation range of 184 to 460 AU. The completeness region in separation - companion mass space was determined using a series of artificial star tests and showed the study to be complete down to $`q=0.1`$ outside of 368 AU, assuming a typical primary mass of $`1.0M_{\mathrm{}}`$. The companion mass sensitivity was reduced for closer separations. At the innermost separation of 184 AU, we were sensitive to equal mass companions. When our binary sample was corrected for differences in companion mass sensitivity, we found the binary fraction of NGC 2024 to be consistent with the solar neighborhood binary fraction determined by Duquennoy & Mayor (1991) and Kroupa (2001). A comparison to Ghez, Neugebauer, & Matthews (1993) suggests that the binary fraction of NGC 2024 is lower than that of the low density star-forming regions in Taurus-Auriga. This result supports the notion that the much of the star formation in the galaxy occurs in intermediate density clusters such as NGC 2024 and not within loose T associations like those found in Taurus.

## 6 Acknowledgments

WL was supported by NASA under the NICMOS grant to the University of Arizona. MRM is very grateful for support from the Lucas Foundation, and NASA grants HF-01098.01-97A and GF-7417 awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. for NASA under contract NAS 5-26555. The authors also thank the referee for helpful comments.


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# Accretion-Induced Collimated Fast Wind Model for Eta Carinae

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Observations and models that support the presence of a close binary companion to $`\eta `$ Car have rapidly accumulated in recent years (e.g., Damineli 1996; Ishibashi et al. 1999; Damineli et al. 2000; Corcoran et al. 2001a,b; Pittard & Corcoran 2002; Duncan & White 2003). These papers deal mainly with the luminoisty of $`\eta `$ Car, either the X-ray properties (e.g., Corcoran et al. 2001a,b), or the spectroscopic event$``$the fading of high excitation lines (e.g., Damineli et al. 2000; Vieira, Gull & Danks 2003). In a previous paper (Soker 2001a) I argue that the bipolar shape$``$two lobes with an equatorial waist between them$``$of $`\eta `$ Car and its departure from axisymmetry is best explained by the binary model. In particular, the kinetic energy and momentum of the $`\eta `$ Car nebula is more easily explained by two oppositely flowing jets, or a collimated fast wind (CFW), which were blown by a binary companion during the 20-year long Great Eruption of 1850. This is even more so for the recently claimed more massive lobes (Smith et al. 2003b). The lobes have more kinetic energy, which is not easily accounted for in a single star model. In the binary model, the companion simply accreted more mass during the Great Eruption, by that blowing a stronger CFW (Soker 2001a). Other researchers prefer to attribute the bipolar shape to axisymmetrical mass loss geometry from a single star (e.g., Maeder & Desjacques 2001; Smith et al. 2000, 2003a, hereafter S2003).

The presence of an eccentric binary system at the center of the bipolar $`\eta `$ Car nebula is not a surprise to many people studying planetary nebulae (PNs) and symbiotic systems (Soker 2001a). There are many symbiotic nebulae and PNs, or proto-PNs, with bipolar structures which are similar in many respects to the structure of the $`\eta `$ Car nebula, e.g., the symbiotic Mira Henize 2-104 (Corradi et al. 2001), and the proto-PN Red Rectangle (Waters et al. 1998), with its central binary system (HD 44179) of orbital period 318 days, semimajor axis of $`0.3\mathrm{AU}`$, and eccentricity of $`e=0.38`$ (Waelkens et al. 1996; Waters et al. 1998). Rodriguez, Corradi, & Mampaso (2001) claim for the presence of binary central stars in three bipolar PNs, and discuss their similarity to symbiotic nebulae. An interesting object is Menzel 3, with its bipolar main structure and many strings (Kastner et al. 2003), similar in some respects to those of $`\eta `$ Car (Weis, Duschl, & Chu 1999) and which is thought to be either a proto PN or a symbiotic binary system (Schmeja & Kimeswenger 2001; Zhang & Liu 2002). Kastner et al. (2003) tentatively argue for the presence of an X-ray jet in one of the two lobes of Mz 3. The structures of these nebulae are not identical to that of $`\eta `$ Car. This is in accord with the expectation from the binary model for the formation of bipolar structures in stellar systems (Soker 2002). There are about a hundred qualitatively different evolutionary routes that binary progenitors of bipolar nebulae can take, in some of them the companion is of low mass and/or is destructed during the process, and will be difficult to detect (Soker 2002). This implies that there are about a hundred qualitatively different types of bipolar PNs and related objects. Within each type there are quantitative differences as well. Therefore, rarely we find two identical bipolar structures.

S2003 study the present mass loss geometry from $`\eta `$ Car, and find the wind velocity and density to vary over time and latitude. Among other things, S2003 find the velocity and density to depend relatively weakly on latitude in March 1998 and February 1999. The wind speed at those times was $`v_w400800\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. In March 1998 the mass loss rate was clearly detected from latitude $`30^{}`$ (the equator is at $`0^{}`$) to $`80^{}`$, while in February 1999 the mass loss was detected in the latitude range of $`5080^{}`$. In March 2000 the mass loss geometry was markedly different, with wind speed at the poles ($`90^{}`$) of $`v_w1200\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, and a higher mass loss rate along the poles than at lower latitudes. S2003 proposed a scenario to account for these variations based on a rapidly rotating star; they attributed no significant role to a binary companion in shaping the wind.

Motivated by the recent findings of S2003, I propose an alternative scenario (section 2) to the single-star scenario of S2003 to explain the mass loss geometry found by them. Based on the similarity of the nebular structure to those of some bipolar PNs and symbiotic nebulae, the scenario includes ingredients which were proposed in the context of these objects, but with significant differences. In particular I consider the role of winds collision, taking the view that $`\eta `$ Car is a binary system.

## 2 ACCRETION OF BACKFLOWING MATERIAL

Accretion of backflowing material, i.e., gas blown by the star is accreted by the same star, was proposed to account for some properties of bipolar planetary nebulae (Soker 2001b; Sahai et al. 2002). In that scenario an asymptotic giant branch (AGB), or post-AGB, star accretes from the dense material which it blew earlier. For the wind material to stay bound to the star, it was shown that the wind should be dense and flow outward at a low speed (Soker 2001b). It is also suggested that such a wind may be formed close to the equatorial plane as a result of gravitational influence by a binary companion (Soker 2001b), and that the accreted backflowing material is likely to have enough angular momentum to form an accretion disk. Such an accretion disk may lead to the formation of two jets, or a CFW.

I propose that the primary star in $`\eta `$ Car also accretes backflowing material during part of the orbit, forming an accretion disk and blowing its own CFW. For $`\eta `$ Car I propose that the bound dense and slow flow is formed by the following process. The continuous, more or less spherical, wind blown by the primary (the primary wind) collides with the continuous, more or less spherical, wind blown by the companion (the secondary wind) and rapidly cools (e.g., Pittard & Corcoran 2002). If the cooling time is much shorter than the flow time, then the cold dense gas may not reach an escape velocity from the binary system. The ratio of the cooling time, $`\tau _c`$, to the flow time, $`\tau _f`$, is given by equation (3) of Pittard & Corcoran (2002); here I give it in a different form, but scale the properties of the primary and secondary winds according to Pittard & Corcoran (2002). The flow time is $`\tau _fd_1/v_{w1}`$, where $`d_1`$ is the distance of the primary from the contact discontinuity$``$where the two winds collide$``$and $`v_{w1}`$ is the terminal speed of the wind blown by the primary. For the cooling rate I approximate the cooling curve around a shock temperature of $`T3\times 10^6`$ K (e.g., Gaetz, Edgar, & Chevalier 1988) by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=2.5\times 10^{23}(T/2\times 10^7\mathrm{K})^{1/2}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1`$, for $`T2\times 10^7`$ K. Relating the shock temperature to the speed of a fully ionized solar composition wind gives (similar to equation 3 of Pittard & Corcoran 2002)

$$\chi \frac{\tau _c}{\tau _f}0.01\left(\frac{\dot{M}}{10^4M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1}\right)^1\left(\frac{d_1}{10\mathrm{AU}}\right)\left(\frac{v_{w1}}{500\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1}\right)^5.$$
(1)
Near periastron $`d_1<10\mathrm{A}\mathrm{U}`$, and this ratio will be smaller, while at apastron $`d_120\mathrm{A}\mathrm{U}`$ and the ratio is somewhat larger, but still $`\chi 1`$. The primary has a varying mass loss rate (S2003). The high mass loss rate phase is attribute to periastron passage in the binary model; the value of $`\chi `$ decreases there. The conclusion is that the cooling time, in particular near periastron, is much shorter than the flow time. The shocked gas will rapidly cool to $`T10^4`$ K, and be compressed by the high post-shock pressure. Away from apastron the effect is greater, as cooling time is shorter and shock pressure is higher.

At and near the stagnation point$``$the contact discontinuity point along the line joining the two stars$``$the wind velocity is perpendicular to the shock front. As we move away from the stagnation point the angle between the primary (or secondary) wind’s velocity and the shock front depends on the exact shape of the contact discontinuity, which mainly depends on the ratio of the momentum flux of the two winds (Pittard & Corcoran 2002). Close to the stagnation point a good approximation is that the shock front is perpendicular to the line joining the two star. Let $`\theta `$ be the angle of the velocity of a primary’s wind segment measured from the line joining the two stars. The velocity component parallel to the shock front does not change, and stays at $`v_p=v_{w1}\mathrm{sin}\theta `$ behind the shock. For a typical mass of the primary ($`120M_{}`$; Hillier et al. 2001), the escape velocity (from the primary) near the stagnation point is $`v_{\mathrm{esc}}140(d_1/10\mathrm{A}\mathrm{U})^{1/2}\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. The shocked wind’s segment will stay bound if $`v_p<v_{\mathrm{esc}}`$, or

$$\mathrm{sin}\theta <\mathrm{sin}\theta _b0.3\left(\frac{d_1}{10\mathrm{A}\mathrm{U}}\right)^{1/2}\left(\frac{v_{w1}}{500\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1}\right)^1.$$
(2)
This is a crude estimate, since different post-shock wind’s segments interact among themselves, and the situation is more complicated. The fraction of post-shock material that stays bound to the system is given by

$$f=\frac{1}{2}(1\mathrm{cos}\theta _b)=0.02\mathrm{for}\mathrm{sin}\theta _b=0.3.$$
(3)
Using the binary parameters given by Corcoran et al. (2001a), I find at periastron $`d_12.5\mathrm{AU}`$, hence $`\mathrm{sin}\theta _b0.5`$ and $`f0.07`$. The mass loss rate increases at periastron passage. A crude estimate gives that the fraction of the mass lost by the primary over one orbital period and that stays bound to the system due to its collision with the companion’s wind is $`f0.030.05`$. Winds collision is not the sole effect for producing bound material near the equatorial plane. In the Red Rectangle, where no strong wind collision is expected, there is a relatively dense bound material near the equatorial plane outside and close to the binary system (e.g., Jura & Kahane 1999). This shows that gravitational interaction may also form a concentration of slowly moving gas and dust in the equatorial region of a close binary system. The exact mechanism for the formation of this “disk” is not clear.

The stagnation point, where the bound gas is slowed down, is closer to the secondary star (Pittard & Corcoran 2002), hence it is between the center of mass and the secondary star in $`\eta `$ Car. The cold bound material is more likely to be accreted during and near apastron, when the primary star is farther away from the center of mass and its orbital speed is much slower. Note that the inflow itself starts earlier, as the system moves away from periastron. The backflow time of the accreted material from a distance of $`1520\mathrm{A}\mathrm{U}`$ to the primary star is $`1.5`$ yr which is a non-negligible fraction of the orbital period. This means that if the CFW is observed near apastron, and most of the backflowing mass originated from the massive wind blown near periastron passage, then the backflowing material starts its inflow $`1`$ yr after periastron passage. Quantifying this process requires hydrodynamical simulations, which are beyond the scope of the present paper. I note the enhanced mass loss rate during the periastron passage of 1998 (Duncan & White 2003), which also favors accretion during apastron passage. Therefore, the accretion phase is shorter than the orbital period. According to the present scenario this explains the finding by S2003 that only during part of the orbit is there a fast polar flow. As illustrative values I take a fraction of $`f0.05`$ of the total mass lost during an orbit to stay bound and be accreted, I take the accretion phase to last a fraction $`\eta 0.30.5`$ of the orbital period, and I take a lower than average mass loss rate during and near apastron. Let $`\beta 0.5`$ be the ratio of apastron mass loss rate to the average over an orbit mass loss rate. These values imply that during the accretion phase near apastron, the ratio of accretion to mass loss rate is

$$\frac{\dot{M}_{\mathrm{acc}}}{\dot{M}_{\mathrm{ap}}}=\frac{f}{\eta \beta }0.25.$$
(4)
The value in the last equality is for $`f0.05`$, $`\eta 0.4`$, and $`\beta 0.5`$.

As the dense post-shock material flows back to the primary star, three relevant forces are acting on it: gravity, wind’s ram pressure, and radiation force. For the parameters of the present system, wind’s ram pressure is somewhat larger than radiation pressure (eq. 6 of Soker 2001b). It is therefore adequate to consider the force due to wind’s ram pressure and gravity. I consider a post-shock spherical blob of mass $`m_b`$, density $`\rho _b`$, and radius $`r_b`$, located at a distance $`r`$ from the primary of mass $`M_1`$. I also take the blob’s density to be $`B`$ times the wind’s density $`\rho _b=B\rho _{w1}`$. The magnitude of the gravitational force is given by

$$f_g=\frac{GM_1m_b}{r^2}=\frac{GM_1}{r^2}\frac{4\pi }{3}r_b^3B\rho _{w1},$$
(5)
where in the second equality I substituted for the blob mass. The force due to the ram pressure of the wind is given by

$$f_{w1}=\rho _{w1}v_{w1}^2\pi r_b^2.$$
(6)
The ratio of these forces is

$$F\frac{f_g}{f_{w1}}=\frac{4}{3}\frac{GM_1}{r^2v_{w1}^2}r_bB\frac{R_1}{r}\frac{r_b}{r}B,$$
(7)
where in the second equality I took the vind speed to be of the order of the Keplerian speed on the surface of the primary star, of radius $`R_1`$. For the present system, the first factor on the far right hand side of the last equation is $`R_1/r0.02`$, where the minimum value is obtained for the distance of the stagnation point at apastron, $`d_120\mathrm{A}\mathrm{U}`$. For pressure equilibrium between the ram pressure of the wind and a cool blob at a temperature of $`T10^4K`$, the compression factor is $`B1000`$. Because the post-shock blobs were formed when mass loss rate was higher near periastron passage, this factor can be even larger $`B2000`$. The requirement for the blobs to be accreted, therefore, is that its size be $`r_b0.025r`$. This condition is likely to be met, as the region near the stagnation point from which mass is accreted is much larger (eq. 2). Smaller blobs may not be accreted. For conditions a little less favorable, such a backflow will not occur. In the present paper I claim that in $`\eta `$ Car conditions are such that backflow do occur. It does not mean that these conditions will hold in the future, when wind properties may change.

The accretion occurs very close to the equatorial plane, as the dense cold gas is formed there and gravity forces it to flow there. In young stellar objects it is well established that accretion and outflow occur simultanouosly. Here, I show that the backflowing blobs cover a small fraction of the hemisphere, untill they form an accretion disk close to the star, and hence I expect outflow and inflow to occur simulatanouosly near apastron passages; near periastron passages only outflow occurs. The average inflow rate through a radius $`r`$ is given by

$$\dot{M}_{\mathrm{acc}}=\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{in}}v_{\mathrm{in}}\rho _b4\pi r^2,$$
(8)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{in}}`$ is the fraction of solid angle covered by the infllowing gas (blobs), and $`v_{\mathrm{in}}(r)`$ is the infflow speed at radius $`r`$. The mass outflow rate near apastron passage is given by

$$\dot{M}_{\mathrm{ap}}=v_{w1}\rho _{w1}4\pi r^2.$$
(9)
Dividing equation (8) by equation (9), and rearranging, gives for the covering solid angle fraction of the inflowing gas

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{in}}=\frac{\dot{M}_{\mathrm{acc}}}{\dot{M}_{\mathrm{ap}}}\frac{v_{w1}}{v_{\mathrm{in}}}\frac{\rho _{w1}}{\rho _b}.$$
(10)
From equation (4) and the discussion bellow, $`\dot{M}_{\mathrm{acc}}\dot{M}_{\mathrm{ap}}`$. From the discussion above for the compression ratio $`B`$, $`\rho _{w1}/\rho _b=1/B10^3`$. The inflow gas is accelerated inward, hence its speed is bellow that of the outflowing gas, but not by much because the stagnation point to primary radius is not a huge ratio. Taking $`v_{w1}/v_{\mathrm{in}}10`$, I find $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{in}}0.01`$. Therefore, the dense inflowing gas covers a small fraction of the outflowing gas. The accretion disk itself and the wind blown by it may disrupt segments of the wind while the coolimated outflow is active. In anycase, most of the backflowing gas results from wind blown near the apastron passage.

In a recent paper Duncan & White (2003) claim that the mass loss rate in the equatorial plane was enhanced during the periastron passage of 1998. This enhanced mass loss not only concentrates mass to the equatorial plane, but also implies a lower value of $`\beta `$ used in equation (4), enhancing the effect proposed here. Because of the binary nature of the system it is expected that the accreted mass has high specific angular momentum, and an accretion disk is likely to be formed. The accretion flow stops the wind only very close to the equatorial plane. It is clear that the wind dominates over accretion for the ratio found in equation (4), and a very well collimated very dense jets are not expected even if the accreted backflowing material forms an accretion disk. This is so because any wind blown by the accretion disk will interact close to the star with the wind blown from the surface of the star. This interaction is likely to degrade any collimation. In addition, the primary wind is not collimated, hence reducing the density contrast between the polar CFW and the wind in other directions. However, it is quite possible that the accretion disk will lead to the formation of a polar flow, added to the wind, resulting in a faster and higher density polar flow. Jets (or CFW) launched by accretion disks move at about the escape velocity from the accreting object (Livio 2000). Winds blown by giant stars may move at a speed somewhat bellow the escape speed. If this is the case with the primary (more or less spherical) wind, then this explain the sharp rise in outflow speed toward the poles found by S2003 in March 2000.

I stress the significant differences between the presently proposed scenario for the present flow in $`\eta `$ Car, and the model proposed in Soker (2001a) to account for the the formation of the main bipolar structure (the Homunculus) of $`\eta `$ Car during the Eruptions of the 19th century. According to Soker (2001a; see discussion following eq. 2 in that paper), during the Great Eruption of 1850 (and possibly during the Lesser Eruption of 1890) the mass loss rate from the massive primary star was huge and the wind’s speed lower, such that the stagnation point of the colliding winds was inside the accretion radius of the secondary star. Therefore, the shocked winds’ material was accreted directly and continuously by the secondary star. An accretion disk was formed during the entire Great Eruption period around the secondary star, leading to the ejection of a CFW by the secondary (lower mass) star. According to that scenario (Soker 2001a), two winds shaped the main bipolar structure during the Great Eruption: A dense relatively slow wind blown by the primary star, and a CFW blown by the secondary star. Presently, the primary’s wind mass loss rate is much lower than that during the Great Eruption, and the stagnation point is outside the accretion radius of the secondary star. Hence, the shocked winds’ material is not accreted by the secondary star. As discussed here, it is more likely to be accreted later in the orbit by the primary star. Presently, three types of winds can be identified: The continoues wind blown by the primary, the continues wind blown by the secondary, and an intermittent CFW blown by the accretion disk around the primary star during part of the orbital period.

## 3 DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY

I proposed a scenario to account for the $`\eta `$ Car wind geometry and its time variation as found recently by S2003. The scenario is based on the binary nature of $`\eta `$ Car, and the collision between the winds blown by the two components. The post-shocked wind blown by the primary$``$the more massive star$``$ has a cooling time near the stagnation point much shorter than the flow time (eq. 1). The material which is shocked near the stagnation point loses most of its energy via radiation, and stays bound to the binary system, as well as to the primary star (eq. 2). A fraction of $`35\%`$ of the mass blown during the orbit may stay bound to the primary (eq. 3), assuming enhanced mass loss rate during periastron passage (Duncan & White 2003), as a result of tidal interaction. If most of this mass is accreted back by the primary near its orbital apastron passage, when it is farther away from the center of mass and moves slowly, the accretion rate can be a non-negligible fraction of the mass loss rate (eq. 4). This mass is accreted near the equator, and if it has enough angular momentum it can form an accretion disk and lead to the formation of a collimated fast wind (CFW). The total mass loss rate into the CFW can be $`10\%`$ of the accretion rate. Taking into account the enhanced mass loss rate during periastron passage (Duncan & White 2003), i.e., $`\beta 0.10.2`$ in equation (4), I estiamte that the CFW can increase the mass loss rate along the polar direction, within $`25^{}`$ from the polar direction, by a factor of $`2`$. I suggest this CFW as an explanation to the wind geometry found by S2003 in March 2000; in the proposed scenario this epoch corresponds to the apastron phase of the orbit. No such polar flow is observed a year and two years earlier; according to the proposed scenario the primary’s orbital speed is too fast to accrete at a high rate. It is important to notice the differences between the propsed flow structure refering to the present conditions in $`\eta `$ Car, and the flow structure that occured during the Eruptions of the 19th century, as proposed in Soker (2001a). These differences are discussed in the last paragraph of section 2.

The main gaps and uncertainties in the presently proposed scenario are: (1) Is some of the wind blown by the primary indeed accreted back by it via an equatorial backflow during some fraction of the orbit, as suggested here? (2) If it is, what is the mass accretion rate, which was estimated here in equation (4)? (3) What is the specific angular momentum of the accreted mass? (4) If the mass and specific angular momentum of the accreted mass are high enough to ensure the formation of a small accretion disk, can this disk cause the polar dense and fast flow observed by S2003? This is a crucial ingredient in the proposed scenario. The single star model proposed by S2003 is not free of some open questions as well. (1) The model requires the star to rotate fast (S2003). Can a single evolved star rotate fast enough? In general such stars seems to slow down (Maeder & Meynet 2000), below the rotation speed required for a significant polar flow. (2) Can such a star blow a dense fast polar flow? In many models (see S2003), as well as in the solar wind (e.g., Habbal & Woo 2001), the density anti-correlates with the wind speed. Even S2003 note in their figure 7 that the dependence of wind speed on latitude is not shallow as expected in rotating stars. It resembles more a polar jet with a half opening angle (measured from the symmetry axis) of $`2030^{}`$. (3) It is not clear if the time variation in the wind geometry proposed by S2003 can indeed work; it incorporates a response of the rotating stellar envelope to a mass loss, a process which has not been studied in detail.

Concerning the many open questions on the nature of $`\eta `$ Car central star(s) and the formation process of its nebula, the community should consider different models, even when they are incomplete. The presently proposed scenario is fundamentally different from that proposed by S2003 in that it attributes the dense and fast polar outflow to binary interaction. This is along the lines of my previous paper (Soker 2001a), where the bipolar structure of the $`\eta `$ Car nebula was attribute to binary interaction, where the secondary accreted and blew a CFW. One of the advantages of binary models is that they can serve as a framework for a unified paradigm for the formation of bipolar structures around many stars: $`\eta `$ Car, symbiotic systems (which are known to contain binary central systems), bipolar PNs (some of which are known to contain binary systems, and the others are suspected to harbor binary systems), and other systems, e.g., SN 1987A.

Some predictions of the proposed scenario can be tested in the near future with more detailed observations. (1) A small departure from axisymmetry is expected in the inner region. This is because of the different in the interaction strength and type near periastron and apastron (see Soker 2001a for large scale departure in the outer region). However, because the wind speed is much higher than the orbital speed, the departure from axisymmetry is small (Soker 2001a). (2) The dense bound material may be detected via weak emission or absorption as slowly moving material in the inner region, possibly even via emission from dust. (3) The on-off phases of the CFW are periodic, in contrast to the single star model, where the on-off phases may be semi-periodic. (4) It is plausible, but not necessary, that the secondary more compact companion will accrete part of the bound mass. In that case very high speed $`20003000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ polar wind may be detected.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was supported in part by a grant from the Israel Science Foundation.