An imaged 15Mjup companion within a hierarchical quadruple system

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a 15Mjup brown dwarf companion within a hierarchical quadruple system around a young B-type star, using advanced high-contrast imaging techniques to improve detection and analysis.

Contribution

It presents the first direct imaging discovery of a substellar companion around each component of a stellar binary system, demonstrating the effectiveness of new data reduction algorithms.

Findings

Discovery of a 15Mjup brown dwarf at ~20 au from the C component.

Identification of a hierarchical quadruple system with multiple substellar companions.

Application of advanced PSF-subtraction algorithms improved detection capabilities.

Abstract

Since 2019, the direct imaging B-star Exoplanet Abundance Study (BEAST) at SPHERE@VLT has been scanning the surroundings of young B-type stars in order to ascertain the ultimate frontiers of giant planet formation. Recently, the $17^{+3}_{-4}$ Myr HIP 81208 was found to host a close-in (~50 au) brown dwarf and a wider (~230 au) late M star around the central 2.6Msun primary. Alongside the continuation of the survey, we are undertaking a complete reanalysis of archival data aimed at improving detection performances so as to uncover additional low-mass companions. We present here a new reduction of the observations of HIP 81208 using PACO ASDI, a recent and powerful algorithm dedicated to processing high-contrast imaging datasets, as well as more classical algorithms and a dedicated PSF-subtraction approach. The combination of different techniques allowed for a reliable extraction of astrometric and photometric parameters. A previously undetected source was recovered at a short separation from the C component of the system. Proper motion analysis provided robust evidence for the gravitational bond of the object to HIP 81208 C. Orbiting C at a distance of ~20 au, this 15Mjup brown dwarf becomes the fourth object of the hierarchical HIP 81208 system. Among the several BEAST stars which are being found to host substellar companions, HIP 81208 stands out as a particularly striking system. As the first stellar binary system with substellar companions around each component ever found by direct imaging, it yields exquisite opportunities for thorough formation and dynamical follow-up studies.