TOWARD COMPLETE STATISTICS OF MASSIVE BINARY STARS: PENULTIMATE RESULTS FROM THE CYGNUS OB2 RADIAL VELOCITY SURVEY

We analyze orbital solutions for 48 massive multiple-star systems in the Cygnus OB2 association, 23 of which are newly presented here, to find that the observed distribution of orbital periods is approximately uniform in log P for P < 45 days, but it is not scale-free. Inflections in the cumulative distribution near 6 days, 14 days, and 45 days suggest key physical scales of similar or equal to 0.2, similar or equal to 0.4, and similar or equal to 1 A. U. where yet-to-be-identified phenomena create distinct features. No single power law provides a statistically compelling prescription, but if features are ignored, a power law with exponent beta similar or equal to -0.22 provides a crude approximation over P = 1.4-2000 days, as does a piece-wise linear function with a break near 45 days. The cumulative period distribution flattens at P > 45 days, even after correction for completeness, indicating either a lower binary fraction or a shift toward low-mass companions. A high degree of similarity (91% likelihood) between the Cyg OB2 period distribution and that of other surveys suggests that the binary properties at P less than or similar to 25 days are determined by local physics of disk/clump fragmentation and are relatively insensitive to environmental and evolutionary factors. Fully 30% of the unbiased parent sample is a binary with period P < 45 days. Completeness corrections imply a binary fraction near 55% for P < 5000 days. The observed distribution of mass ratios 0.2 < q < 1 is consistent with uniform, while the observed distribution of eccentricities 0.1 < e < 0.6 is consistent with uniform plus an excess of e similar or equal to 0 systems. We identify six stars, all supergiants, that exhibit aperiodic velocity variations of similar or equal to 30 km s(-1) attributed to atmospheric fluctuations.