Gaia Data Release 3: Stellar multiplicity, a teaser for the hidden treasure

• Main Authors: Mazeh, T, Sahlmann, J, Sozzetti, A, Halbwachs, J. -L, Fiorentin, P. Re, Siopis, C, Guerra, R, Hutton, A, Jordi, C, Klioner, S. A, Panem, C, Jansen, F, Frémat, Y, Nicolas, C, Nienartowicz, K, Pailler, F, Roux, W, Sordo, R, Altmann, M, Bellas-Velidis, I, Benson, K, Blomme, R, Cánovas, H, Cellino, A, Esquej, P, Krone-Martins, A, Lanzafame, A. C, Pancino, E, Reylé, C, Sarro, L. M, van Leeuwen, M, Aguado, J. J, Álvarez, M. A, Antoja, T, Balbinot, E, Balog, Z, Barbato, D, Becciani, U, Bragaglia, A, Brouillet, N, Buzzi, R, Carlucci, T, Carrasco, J. M, Chaoul, L, Charlot, P, Chiaramida, V, Crifo, F, de Laverny, P, Delgado, A, Delisle, J. -B, Diakite, S, Diener, C, Dolding, C, Figueras, F, Fragkoudi, F, Gai, M, Gilmore, G, Gomez, A, Guillout, P, Gutiérrez-Sánchez, R, Hatzidimitriou, D, Helmi, A, Hładczuk, N, Hobbs, D, Piccolo, A. Jean-Antoine, Laizeau, P, Campion, J. -F. Le, Lobel, A, Loup, C, Marchant, J. M, Polo, L. Martin, Masip, A, Monari, G, Mor, R, Pagani, C, Pallas-Quintela, L, Poggio, E, Pulone, L, Raiteri, C. M, Ramos, P, Regibo, S, Rix, H. -W, Robin, A. C, Rohrbasser, L, Segol, M, Silvelo, A, Slezak, I, Snaith, O. N, Solitro, F, Souami, D, Steele, I. A, Steidelmüller, H, Süveges, M, Szegedi-Elek, E, Tonello, N, Torra, F, Vaillant, M. V, van Reeven, W, Yoldas, A, Zhao, H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 11-06-2022
• Subjects: Physics - Astrophysics of Galaxies; Physics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics; Physics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics; Physics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2206.05595

A&A 674, A34 (2023) The Gaia DR3 Catalogue contains for the first time about eight hundred
thousand solutions with either orbital elements or trend parameters for
astrometric, spectroscopic and eclipsing binaries, and combinations of them.
This paper aims to illustrate the huge potential of this large non-single star
catalogue. Using the orbital solutions together with models of the binaries, a
catalogue of tens of thousands of stellar masses, or lower limits, partly
together with consistent flux ratios, has been built. Properties concerning the
completeness of the binary catalogues are discussed, statistical features of
the orbital elements are explained and a comparison with other catalogues is
performed. Illustrative applications are proposed for binaries across the H-R
diagram. The binarity is studied in the RGB/AGB and a search for genuine SB1
among long-period variables is performed. The discovery of new EL CVn systems
illustrates the potential of combining variability and binarity catalogues.
Potential compact object companions are presented, mainly white dwarf
companions or double degenerates, but one candidate neutron star is also
presented. Towards the bottom of the main sequence, the orbits of
previously-suspected binary ultracool dwarfs are determined and new candidate
binaries are discovered. The long awaited contribution of Gaia to the analysis
of the substellar regime shows the brown dwarf desert around solar-type stars
using true, rather than minimum, masses, and provides new important constraints
on the occurrence rates of substellar companions to M dwarfs. Several dozen new
exoplanets are proposed, including two with validated orbital solutions and one
super-Jupiter orbiting a white dwarf, all being candidates requiring
confirmation. Beside binarity, higher order multiple systems are also found.