Atmospheric Abundances and Bulk Properties of the Binary Brown Dwarf Gliese 229Bab from JWST/MIRI Spectroscopy

Abstract

We present JWST/Mid Infrared Instrument (MIRI) low-resolution spectroscopy (4.75–14 μm) of the first known substellar companion, Gliese 229Bab, which was recently resolved into a tight binary brown dwarf. Previous atmospheric retrieval studies modeling Gliese 229B as a single brown dwarf have reported anomalously high carbon-to-oxygen ratios (C/O) of ≈1.1 using 1–5 μm ground-based spectra. Here, we fit the MIRI spectrum of Gliese 229Bab with a two-component binary model using the Sonora Elf Owl grid and additionally account for the observed K-band flux ratio of the binary brown dwarf. Assuming the two brown dwarfs share the same abundances, we obtain C/O = 0.65 ± 0.05 and as their abundances (2σ statistical errors), which are fully consistent with the host star abundances. We also recover the same abundances if we fit the MIRI spectrum with a single brown dwarf model, indicating that binarity does not strongly affect inferred abundances from mid-infrared data when the Teff are similar between components of the binary. In addition, we measure K and K for the two brown dwarfs. We find that the vertical diffusion coefficients of are identical between the two brown dwarfs and in line with values inferred for isolated brown dwarfs of similar Teff. Our results demonstrate the power of mid-infrared spectroscopy in providing robust atmospheric abundance measurements for brown dwarf companions and, by extension, giant planets.