Observational Constraints on the Formation and Evolution of Binary Stars

We present a high spatial resolution multi-wavelength survey of 44 young binary star systems in Taurus-Auriga with separations of 10- 1000 AU. These observations, which were obtained using the Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, quadruple the number of close (< 100 AU) binary stars with spatially resolved measurements from 0.3 to 2.2 µm and are the first 3.6 µm measurements for the majority of the companion stars in the sample. Masses and ages are estimated for the components observed at optical wavelengths. The relative ages of binary star components are more similar than the relative ages of randomly paired single stars within the same star forming region. This is the first statistically significant evidence for coeval formation. Only one of the companion masses is substellar, from which we conclude that the apparent overabundance of T Tauri star companions relative to main-sequence star companions is not due to a wealth of substellar secondaries that would have been missed in main-sequence surveys. The circumstellar environments of binary star systems are studied in this work

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