Single Be stars as binary ejecta?

Abstract

Among the mechanisms suggested for the creation of discs around Be stars is interaction with binary companions. This idea has largely been dismissed, because the majority of Be stars have no observed companion. This difficulty can be circumvented if single Be stars are actually ejected from binary systems (owing, for instance, to the supernova of the companion). Using Hipparcos data, we show that this explanation is not likely, by comparing the velocity distributions of Be stars with those of normal B stars. We find that the distributions are consistent to within 1σ uncertainties, and thus do not support the formation of single Be stars through binary breakup.