An HST Survey for 100-1000 AU Companions around Young Stellar Objects in the Orion Molecular Clouds: Evidence for Environmentally Dependent Multiplicity

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We present a near-IR survey for the visual multiples in the Orion molecular clouds region at separations between 100 and 1000 AU. These data were acquired at 1.6 μm with the NICMOS and WFC3 cameras on the Hubble Space Telescope. Additional photometry was obtained for some of the sources at 2.05 μm with NICMOS and in the L'-band with NSFCAM2 on the IRTF. Towards 129 protostars and 197 pre-main sequence stars with disks observed with WFC3, we detect 21 and 28 candidate companions between the projected separations of 100---1000 AU, of which less than 5 and 8, respectively, are chance line of sight coincidences. The resulting companion fraction (CF) after the correction for the line of sight contamination is 14.4⁺¹.¹₋₁.₃% for protostars and 12.5⁺¹.²₋₀.₈% for the pre-main sequence stars. These values are similar to those found for main sequence stars, suggesting that there is little variation in the CF with evolution, although several observational biases may mask a decrease in the CF from protostars to the main sequence stars. After segregating the sample into two populations based on the surrounding surface density of YSOs, we find that the CF in the high stellar density regions (ΣYSO > 45 pc⁻²) is approximately 50% higher than that found in the low stellar density regions (ΣYSO < 45 pc⁻²). We interpret this as evidence for the elevated formation of companions at 100 to 1000 AU in the denser environments of Orion. We discuss possible reasons for this elevated formation.