Gravitational Slingshot of Young Massive Stars in Orion

The Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) is the nearest region of massive star formation and thus a crucial testing ground for theoretical models. Of particular interest amongst the ONC's ~1000 members are: θ^1 Ori C, the most massive binary in the cluster with stars of masses 38 and 9 MSun (Kraus et al. 2009); the Becklin-Neugebauer (BN) object, a 30 km/s runaway star of ~8 MSun (Tan 2004); and the Kleinmann-Low (KL) nebula protostar, a highly-obscured, ~15 MSun object still accreting gas while also driving a powerful, apparently "explosive" outflow (Allen & Burton 1993). The unusual behavior of BN and KL is much debated: How did BN acquire its high velocity? How is this related to massive star formation in the KL nebula? Here we report the results of a systematic survey using ~ 10^7 numerical experiments of gravitational interactions of the θ^1C and BN stars. We show that dynamical ejection of BN from this triple system at its observed velocity leaves behind a binary with total energy and eccentricity matching those observed for θ^1C. Five other observed properties of θ^C are also consistent with it having ejected BN and altogether we estimate there is only a <~ 10^{-5} probability that θ^1C has these properties by chance. We conclude that BN was dynamically ejected from the θ^1C system about 4,500 years ago. BN has then plowed through the KL massive-star-forming core within the last 1,000 years causing its recently-enhanced accretion and outflow activity.