The Carbon-Dependent Binary Frequency of CEMP-no Stars

Abstract

Studies of the oldest and most metal-poor stars in the Milky Way have confirmed a common abundance signature of high carbon enrichment, coupled with a subsolar abundance pattern of neutron-capture elements. The so-called CEMP-no stars have been speculated to be bona fide population II stars, potentially tracing the nucleosynthesis of the very first stars formed in the universe. However, constraining the binary nature of CEMP-no stars is crucial for understanding their abundance patterns. In previous radial-velocity monitoring of CEMP-no stars, the binary fraction has tentatively been found to vary with carbon enhancement. Here we present the results of radial-velocity monitoring of 30 CEMP-no stars over five years. Combined with literature data, this yields a total sample of 90 CEMP-no stars with constrained binary statuses, providing a larger statistical sample to investigate the CEMP-no binary fraction as a function of carbon enrichment. We find an overall binary frequency of $50^{+13}_{-13}\%$ among high-carbon ($A(\mathrm{C}) \ge7.3$) CEMP-no stars, compared to $18^{+5}_{-4}\%$ for low-carbon ($A(\mathrm{C}) <7.3$) stars, establishing for the first time a statistically significant increase in the CEMP-no binary frequency as a function of carbon at the 2$σ$ confidence level. Of the confirmed binary systems, we derive orbital parameters for four new ones, which, combined with literature data, amount to a total of 12 CEMP-no binaries with constrained orbits. We discuss these results in the context of the progenitors of CEMP-no stars; in particular, we explore the nature of the companion in these binary systems and the possibility of mass transfer.