Multiplicity of X-Ray-selected T Tauri Stars in Chamaeleon

Abstract

We report on a multiplicity survey of a sample of X-ray-selected young stars in the Chamaeleon association. We used speckle interferometry and direct imaging to find companions in the separation range 0.13"-6". After correction for chance alignment with background stars, we find a multiplicity (number of binaries or multiples divided by number of systems) of 14.0%+/-4.3% and a companion-star frequency (number of companions divided by number of systems) of 14.7%+/-5.1%. Compared with solar-type main-sequence stars, the companion-star frequency is lower by a factor of 0.61+/-0.27. This is remarkably different from the high multiplicity found in the Taurus-Auriga star-forming region and for T Tauri stars in Chamaeleon known before ROSAT. We find only a few binaries with projected separations of more than 70 AU, also in contrast to the results for stars known before ROSAT. This indicates that the X-ray-selected stars belong to a different population than the stars known before ROSAT, a hypothesis further supported by their Hipparcos distances and proper motions. Based on observations obtained at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, proposal 56.E-0197.