The impact of non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics on binary star formation

Abstract

We investigate the effect of non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) on the formation of binary stars using a suite of three-dimensional smoothed particle magnetohydrodynamics simulations of the gravitational collapse of 1 M⊙, rotating, perturbed molecular-cloud cores. Alongside the role of Ohmic resistivity, ambipolar diffusion and the Hall effect, we also examine the effects of magnetic field strength, orientation and amplitude of the density per- turbation. When modelling sub-critical cores, ideal MHD models do not collapse whereas non-ideal MHD models collapse to form single protostars. In supercritical ideal MHD models, increasing the magnetic field strength or decreasing the initial-density perturbation amplitude decreases the initial binary separation. Strong magnetic fields initially perpendicular to the rotation axis suppress the formation of binaries and yield discs with magnetic fields ∼10 times stronger than if the magnetic field was initially aligned with the rotation axis. When non-ideal MHD is included, the resulting discs are larger and more massive, and the binary forms on a wider orbit. Small differences in the supercritical cores caused by non-ideal MHD effects are amplified by the binary interaction near periastron. Overall, the non-ideal effects have only a small impact on binary formation and early evolution, with the initial conditions playing the dominant role.