ε Indi Ba,Bb: The nearest binary brown dwarf

Abstract

We have carried out high angular resolution near-infrared imaging and low-resolution (R ∼ 1000) spectroscopy of the nearest known brown dwarf, ε Indi B, using the ESO VLT NAOS/CONICA adaptive optics system. We find it to be a close binary (as also noted by Volk et al. 2003), with an angular separation of 0.732 arcsec, corresponding to 2.65 AU at the 3.626 pc distance of the ε Indi system. In our discovery paper (Scholz et al. 2003), we concluded that ε Indi B was a ∼50 MJup 12.5 dwarf: our revised finding is that the two system components (ε Indi Ba and ε Indi Bb) have spectral types of T1 and T6, respectively, and estimated masses of 47 and 28 MJup, respectively, assuming an age of 1.3 Gyr, Errors in the masses are ±10 and ±7 MJup, respectively, dominated by the uncertainty in the age determination (0.8-2 Gyr range). This uniquely well-characterised T dwarf binary system should prove important in the study of low-mass, cool brown dwarfs. The two components are bright and relatively well-resolved: ε Indi B is the only T dwarf binary in which spectra have been obtained for both components. The system has a well-established distance and age. Finally, their orbital motion can be measured on a fairly short timescale (nominal orbital period ∼15 yrs), permitting an accurate determination of the true total system mass, helping to calibrate brown dwarf evolutionary models.