Constraining $f(Q,T)$ gravity from energy conditions

TL;DR

This paper constrains parameters of $f(Q,T)$ gravity using energy conditions, demonstrating its potential to describe cosmic acceleration and dark energy phenomena.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed constraints on $f(Q,T)$ gravity parameters via energy conditions, supporting its viability for cosmological modeling.

Findings

$f(Q,T)$ models can account for accelerated expansion

One model exhibits a phantom dark energy regime

Models satisfy key energy conditions

Abstract

We are living in a golden age for experimental cosmology. New experiments with high accuracy precision are been used to constrain proposals of several theories of gravity, as it has been never done before. However, important roles to constrain new theories of gravity in a theoretical perspective are the energy conditions. Throughout this work, we carefully constrained some free parameters of two different families of $f(Q,T)$ gravity using different energy conditions. This theory of gravity combines the gravitation effects through the non-metricity scalar function $Q$, and manifestations from the quantum era of the Universe in the classical theory (due to the presence of the trace of the energy-momentum tensor $T$). Our investigation unveils the viability of $f(Q,T)$ gravity to describe the accelerated expansion our Universe passes through. Besides, one of our models naturally provides a phantom regime for dark energy and satisfies the dominant energy condition. The results here derived strength the viability of $f(Q,T)$ as a promising complete theory of gravity, lighting a new path towards the description of the dark sector of the Universe.