Neutron Stars In $f(R,T)$ Theory: Slow Rotation Approximation

TL;DR

This paper investigates the properties of slowly rotating neutron stars within $f(R,T)$ gravity models, analyzing how modifications to general relativity affect their structure, moments of inertia, and universal relations, with implications for lighter stars.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of neutron star properties in $f(R,T)$ gravity, including the preservation of I-Love-Q relations and the effects of matter-geometry coupling on stellar parameters.

Findings

Deviations from GR are larger in lighter neutron stars for second-order quantities.

Moment of inertia remains close to GR predictions even with modified gravity.

I-Love-Q relations are preserved within 1% accuracy in $f(R,T)$ gravity.

Abstract

In this paper, we study the slowly rotating neutron stars in $f(R, T)$ gravity based on Hartle-Thorne formalism. We first consider the simplest matter-geometry coupled modified gravity, namely $f(R, T)=R+2\chi T$. We compute the mass, radius, moment of inertia, change in radius, and binding energy due to rotation, eccentricity, quadrupole moment, and the tidal love number. The quantities, which are of the second order in angular velocity, like change in radius and binding energy due to rotation, eccentricity, and quadrupole moment, deviate more from their corresponding general relativistic counterparts in lighter neutron stars than heavier ones. Whereas the moment of inertia, which is of the first order in angular velocity, in $f(R, T)=R+2\chi T$ modified gravity, barely diverges from the general relativistic one. The Equation of state-independent I-Love-Q relation retains in this $f(R, T) $ modified gravity, and it coincides with the general relativistic ones within less than one percent even for the maximum allowed coupling parameters. We also study the slowly rotating neutron star in $f(R, T)=R+\alpha R^{2}+2\chi T$ up to first order their angular velocity. We calculate the mass, radius, and moment of inertia of neutron stars in this modified gravity. The results show that the impact of the matter-geometric coupling parameter is greater on lighter neutron stars in both of these modified gravity models.