Population of giant planets around B stars from the first part of the BEAST survey

Context. Exoplanets form from circumstellar protoplanetary disks whose fundamental properties (notably their extent, composition, mass, temperature, and lifetime) depend on the host star properties, such as their mass and luminosity. B stars are among the most massive stars and their protoplanetary disks test extreme conditions for exoplanet formation. Aims. This paper investigates the frequency of giant planet companions around young B stars (median age of 16 Myr) in the Scorpius-Centaurus (Sco-Cen) association, the closest association containing a large population of B stars. Methods. We systematically searched for massive exoplanets with the high-contrast direct imaging instrument SPHERE using the data from the BEAST survey, which targets a homogeneous sample of young B stars from the wide Sco-Cen association. We derived accurate detection limits in the case of non-detections. Results. We found evidence in previous papers for two substellar companions around 42 stars. The masses of these companions are straddling the ~13 Jupiter mass deuterium burning limit, but their mass ratio with respect to their host star is close to that of Jupiter. We derived a frequency of such massive planetary-mass companions around B stars of 11−5+7%, accounting for the survey sensitivity. Conclusions. The discoveries of substellar companions b Centaurib and μ2 Sco B happened after only a few stars in the survey had been observed, raising the possibility that massive Jovian planets might be common around B stars. However, our statistical analysis shows that the occurrence rate of such planets is similar around B stars and around solar-type stars of a similar age, while B-star companions exhibit low mass ratios and a larger semi-major axis.