Why Most Bright Stars Are Binary But Most Dim Stars Are Single: A Simple Qualitative Explanation

Authors

Olga Kosheleva, The University of Texas at El PasoFollow
Vladik Kreinovich, The University of Texas at El PasoFollow

Publication Date

12-2016

Comments

Technical Report: UTEP-CS-16-85

Published in Mathematical Structures and Modeling, 2017, Vol. 41, pp. 118-121.

Abstract

It is known that most visible stars are binary: they have a nearby companion star, and these two stars orbit around each other. Based on this fact, until recently, astronomers believed that, in general, most stars are binary. A few years ago, a surprising paper showed that while most bright stars are indeed binary, most dim stars are single. In this paper, we provide a simple qualitative explanation for this empirical fact.