Stellar structure of quark stars in a modified Starobinsky gravity

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a specific gravity-matter interaction in a modified gravity framework affects the structure and maximum mass of quark stars, with implications for astrophysical observations.

Contribution

It introduces a perturbative approach to study gravity-matter interactions in $f(R,T)$ gravity, focusing on quark stars within a Starobinsky gravity background.

Findings

Gravity-matter coupling increases the maximum stable mass of quark stars.

The results are relevant for interpreting recent binary pulsar observations.

The perturbative method provides new insights into stellar equilibrium in modified gravity.

Abstract

We propose a form of gravity-matter interaction given by $\omega RT$ in the framework of $f(R,T)$ gravity and examine the effect of such interaction in spherically symmetric compact stars. Treating the gravity-matter coupling as a perturbative term on the background of Starobinsky gravity, we develop a perturbation theory for equilibrium configurations. For illustration, we take the case of quark stars and explore their various stellar properties. We find that the gravity-matter coupling causes an increase in the stable maximal mass which is relevant for recent observations on binary pulsars.