ExoplaNeT accRetion mOnitoring sPectroscopic surveY (ENTROPY)

II. Time series of Balmer line profiles of Delorme 1(AB)b^★

¹ Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, 38000 Grenoble, France
² Institutionen för astronomi, Stockholms universitet, AlbaNova universitetscentrum, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
³ Institute for Advanced Study, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China
⁴ Department of Astronomy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China
⁵ Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
⁶ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, 254 Phayathai Rd., Patumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
⁷ Institute for Astrophysical Research and Department of Astronomy, Boston University, 725 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215, USA
⁸ Division of Space Research & Planetary Sciences, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstr. 5, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
⁹ Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
¹⁰ Fakultåt für Physik, Universitåt Duisburg-Essen, Lotharstraße 1, 47057 Duisburg, Germany
¹¹ European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
¹² INAF/Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
¹³ Department of Physics, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 27, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
¹⁴ SUPA, School of Science and Engineering, University of Dundee, Nethergate, DD1 4HN, Dundee, UK
¹⁵ Millennium Nucleus on Young Exoplanets and their Moons (YEMS), Santiago, Chile
¹⁶ Instituto de Estudios Astrofísicos, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Diego Portales, Av. Ejército 441, Santiago, Chile

^★★ Corresponding authors: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Received: 19 March 2025
Accepted: 3 November 2025

Abstract

Context. Accretion processes in the planetary-mass regime are still poorly constrained, yet they strongly impact the formation and evolution of planets and the composition of circumplanetary disks.

Aims. We investigate the resolved Balmer hydrogen emission-line profiles and their variability timescales in the ∼13 M_Jup, 30−45 Myr-old companion Delorme 1 (AB)b to derive constraints on the accretion mechanism at play.

Methods. With VLT/UVES, we collected 31 new epochs of high-resolution optical (330–680 nm) spectra of the companion at R = 50 000, probing variability on timescales of hours to years. We study the companion’s H i emission line shape and flux variability and compare them to two proposed line origins: magnetospheric accretion funnel and localized accretion shock.

Results. We detect H i Balmer lines from Hα up to H10 (6564–3799 Å), as well as the UV continuum excess – signs of ongoing accretion. All lines and UV excess are variable. The H i lines can be decomposed into two static components that vary only by their flux. The broader component in velocity correlates strongly with the UV excess, and its profile is qualitatively reproduced by magnetospheric accretion funnel models but clearly not by shock models. With strong relative variability, this broad component almost entirely explains the variability in the shape of the line profiles. The second, narrower component correlates less with the UV excess and is best reproduced by shock-emission models. Its strong absolute variability makes it responsible for most of the line flux variability. Overall, the lines have low relative flux variability on hourly timescales, but up to ∼100% on weekly timescales and beyond, a behavior similar to T Tauri stars.

Conclusions. The properties of the broad component of the H i lines strongly support magnetospheric accretion. The narrow component could be due to an accretion shock as well as chromospheric activity. Higher-cadence observations could search for rotational modulations to constrain the object’s rotational period and the exact geometry of the accretion flow.