Observations of high-order multiplicity in a high-mass stellar protocluster

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<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The dominant mechanism forming multiple stellar systems in the high-mass regime (<jats:italic>M</jats:italic><jats:sub>*</jats:sub> ≳ 8 <jats:italic>M</jats:italic><jats:sub>⊙</jats:sub>) remained unknown because direct imaging of multiple protostellar systems at early phases of high-mass star formation is very challenging. High-mass stars are expected to form in clustered environments containing binaries and higher-order multiplicity systems. So far only a few high-mass protobinary systems, and no definitive higher-order multiples, have been detected. Here we report the discovery of one quintuple, one quadruple, one triple and four binary protostellar systems simultaneously forming in a single high-mass protocluster, G333.23–0.06, using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array high-resolution observations. We present a new example of a group of gravitationally bound binary and higher-order multiples during their early formation phases in a protocluster. This provides the clearest direct measurement of the initial configuration of primordial high-order multiple systems, with implications for the in situ multiplicity and its origin. We find that the binary and higher-order multiple systems, and their parent cores, show no obvious sign of disk-like kinematic structure. We conclude that the observed fragmentation into binary and higher-order multiple systems can be explained by core fragmentation, indicating its crucial role in establishing the multiplicity during high-mass star cluster formation.</jats:p>

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  • Nature Astronomy

    Nature Astronomy 8 (4), 472-481, 2024-01-15

    Springer Science and Business Media LLC

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