Soft no more: gas shielding protects soft binaries from disruption in gas-rich environments

Understand

Binaries in dense environments are traditionally classified as soft or hard based on their binding energy relative to the kinetic energy of surrounding stars.

• Heggie's law suggests that stellar encounters tend to soften soft binaries and harden hard binaries, altering their separations.
• However, interactions with gas in such environments can significantly modify this behavior.
• This study investigates the impact of gas on binary softening and its consequences.