Strong H α emission and signs of accretion in a circumbinary planetary mass companion from MUSE

Abstract

Context. Intrinsic Hα emission can be advantageously used to detect substellar companions because it improves contrasts in direct imaging. Characterising this emission from accreting exoplanets allows for the testing of planet formation theories. Aims. We characterise the young circumbinary planetary mass companion 2MASS J01033563-5515561 (AB)b (Delorme 1 (AB)b) through medium-resolution spectroscopy. Methods. We used the new narrow-field mode for the MUSE integral-field spectrograph, located on the ESO Very Large Telescope, during science verification time to obtain optical spectra of Delorme 1 (AB)b. Results. We report the discovery of very strong Hα and Hβ emission, accompanied by He » I emission. This is consistent with an active accretion scenario. We provide accretion rate estimates obtained from several independent methods and find a likely mass of 12-15 MJup for Delorme 1 (AB)b. This is also consistent with previous estimates. Conclusions. Signs of active accretion in the Delorme 1 system might indicate a younger age than the ∼30-40 Myr expected from a likely membership in Tucana-Horologium (THA). Previous works have also shown the central binary to be overluminous, which gives further indication of a younger age. However, recent discoveries of active discs in relatively old (∼40 Myr), very low-mass systems suggests that ongoing accretion in Delorme 1 (AB)b might not require in and of itself that the system is younger than the age implied by its THA membership.