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Description
To address the statistics of binary stars in the 8 Myr old Upper Scorpius (USco) star formation region, we conducted a speckle interferometric survey of 614 association members more massive than 0.4 M_{sun}_ (spectral types earlier than M3V) based on the list of Luhman et al. (2018, J/AJ/156/271). We resolved 187 pairs, 55 of which are new discoveries. Also using the published data and the Gaia DR2 (Cat. I/345), a catalog of 250 physical binaries was produced. We carefully estimated detection limits for each target and studied binary statistics in the separation range from 0.06" to 20" (9-2800 au), as well as clustering at larger separations. The frequency of companions with mass ratios q>0.3 in this separation range is 0.33+/-0.04 and 0.35+/-0.04 for early M- and solar-type stars, respectively, larger by 1.62+/-0.22 and 1.39+/-0.18 times compared to field stars of similar masses. The excess is produced mostly by pairs closer than 100 au. At separations from 100 to 10^4^ au, the separation distribution and companion fraction resemble those of solar-type stars in the field. However, unlike in the field, we see a relative deficit of equal-mass binaries at separations of ~500 au, compared to smaller and larger separations. The distribution of q depends on the separation, with a preference of larger q and a larger fraction of twins with q>0.95 at smaller separations. The binary population of USco differs from binaries in the field in several ways and suggests that binary statistics is not universal.
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