Paper detail

Wide double stars - I. The spectroscopic binaries: Double stars with wide separations in the AGK3 - I. The components that are themselves spectroscopic binaries

Wide binaries are tracers of the gravity field of the Galaxy, but their study requires some caution. A large list of common proper motion stars selected from the AGK3 were monitored with the CORAVEL spectrovelocimeter, in order to prepare a sample of physical binaries with very wide separations. Sixty-six stars received special attention, since their RV seemed to be variable. These stars were monitored over several years in order to derive the elements of their spectroscopic orbits. In addition, 10 of them received accurate RV measurements from the SOPHIE spectrograph of the T193 telescope at the Observatory of Haute-Provence. For deriving the orbital elements of double-lined spectroscopic binaries (SB2), a new method was applied, which assumed that the RV of blended measurements are linear combinations of the RV of the components. Thirteen SB2 orbits were thus calculated. The orbital elements were eventually obtained for 52 spectroscopic binaries (SB), two of them making a triple system. Forty SB received their first orbit, and the orbital elements were improved for 10 others. In addition, 11 spectroscopic binaries were discovered with very long periods for which the orbital parameters were not found. The median period of the 40 first orbits is 1 year, and several SB should be resolved or should receive an astrometric orbit in the future, providing the masses of the components. In addition, it appeared that HD 153252 has a close companion which is a candidate brown dwarf with a minimum mass of 50 Jupiter masses. The final selection of the wide binaries and the derivation of their statistical properties will be presented in a second paper.