No Arabic abstract
We analyse configurations of compact stars in the so-called R-squared gravity in the Palatini formalism. Using a realistic equation of state we show that the mass-radius configurations are lighter than their counterparts in General Relativity. We also obtain the internal profiles, which run in strong correlation with the derivatives of the equation of state, leading to regions where the mass parameter decreases with the radial coordinate in a counter-intuitive way. In order to analyse such correlation, we introduce a parametrisation of the equation of state given by multiple polytropes, which allows us to explicitly control its derivatives. We show that, even in a limiting case where hard phase transitions in matter are allowed, the internal profile of the mass parameter still presents strange features and the calculated M-R configurations also yield NSs lighter than those obtained in General Relativity.
The effects implied for the structure of compact objects by the modification of General Relativity produced by the generalization of the Lagrangian density to the form f(R)=R+alpha R^2, where R is the Ricci curvature scalar, have been recently explored. It seems likely that this squared-gravity may allow heavier Neutron Stars (NSs) than GR. In addition, these objects can be useful to constrain free parameters of modified-gravity theories. The differences between alternative gravity theories is enhanced in the strong gravitational regime. In this regime, because of the complexity of the field equations, perturbative methods become a good choice to treat the problem. Following previous works in the field, we performed a numerical integration of the structure equations that describe NSs in f(R)-gravity, recovering their mass-radius relations, but focusing on particular features that arise from this approach in the profiles of the NS interior. We show that these profiles run in correlation with the second-order derivative of the analytic approximation to the Equation of State (EoS), which leads to regions where the enclosed mass decreases with the radius in a counter-intuitive way. We reproduce all computations with a simple polytropic EoS to separate zeroth-order modified gravity effects.
Slow-roll inflation is analyzed in the context of modified gravity within the Palatini formalism. As shown in the literature, inflation in this framework requires the presence of non-traceless matter, otherwise it does not occur just as a consequence of the non-linear gravitational terms of the action. Nevertheless, by including a single scalar field that plays the role of the inflaton, slow-roll inflation can be performed in these theories, where the equations lead to an effective potential that modifies the dynamics. We obtain the general slow-roll parameters and analyze a simple model to illustrate the differences introduced by the gravitational terms under the Palatini approach, and the modifications on the spectral index and the tensor to scalar ratio predicted by the model.
We derive a new interior solution for stellar compact objects in $fmathcal{(R)}$ gravity assuming a differential relation to constrain the Ricci curvature scalar. To this aim, we consider specific forms for the radial component of the metric and the first derivative of $fmathcal{(R)}$. After, the time component of the metric potential and the form of $f(mathcal R)$ function are derived. From these results, it is possible to obtain the radial and tangential components of pressure and the density. The resulting interior solution represents a physically motivated anisotropic neutron star model. It is possible to match it with a boundary exterior solution. From this matching, the components of metric potentials can be rewritten in terms of a compactness parameter $C$ which has to be $C=2GM/Rc^2 <<0.5$ for physical consistency. Other physical conditions for real stellar objects are taken into account according to the solution. We show that the model accurately bypasses conditions like the finiteness of radial and tangential pressures, and energy density at the center of the star, the positivity of these components through the stellar structure, and the negativity of the gradients. These conditions are satisfied if the energy-conditions hold. Moreover, we study the stability of the model by showing that Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation is at hydrostatic equilibrium. The solution is matched with observational data of millisecond pulsars with a withe dwarf companion and pulsars presenting thermonuclear bursts.
We focus on a series of $f(R)$ gravity theories in Palatini formalism to investigate the probabilities of producing the late-time acceleration for the flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe. We apply statefinder diagnostic to these cosmological models for chosen series of parameters to see if they distinguish from one another. The diagnostic involves the statefinder pair ${r,s}$, where $r$ is derived from the scale factor $a$ and its higher derivatives with respect to the cosmic time $t$, and $s$ is expressed by $r$ and the deceleration parameter $q$. In conclusion, we find that although two types of $f(R)$ theories: (i) $f(R) = R + alpha R^m - beta R^{-n}$ and (ii) $f(R) = R + alpha ln R - beta$ can lead to late-time acceleration, their evolutionary trajectories in the $r-s$ and $r-q$ planes reveal different evolutionary properties, which certainly justify the merits of statefinder diagnostic. Additionally, we utilize the observational Hubble parameter data (OHD) to constrain these models of $f(R)$ gravity. As a result, except for $m=n=1/2$ of (i) case, $alpha=0$ of (i) case and (ii) case allow $Lambda$CDM model to exist in 1$sigma$ confidence region. After adopting statefinder diagnostic to the best-fit models, we find that all the best-fit models are capable of going through deceleration/acceleration transition stage with late-time acceleration epoch, and all these models turn to de-Sitter point (${r,s}={1,0}$) in the future. Also, the evolutionary differences between these models are distinct, especially in $r-s$ plane, which makes the statefinder diagnostic more reliable in discriminating cosmological models.
In the context of f(R)=R + alpha R^2 gravity, we study the existence of neutron and quark stars with no intermediate approximations in the generalised system of Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov equations. Analysis shows that for positive alphas the scalar curvature does not drop to zero at the star surface (as in General Relativity) but exponentially decreases with distance. Also the stellar mass bounded by star surface decreases when the value alpha increases. Nonetheless distant observers would observe a gravitational mass due to appearance of a so-called gravitational sphere around the star. The non-zero curvature contribution to the gravitational mass eventually is shown to compensate the stellar mass decrease for growing alphas. We perform our analysis for several equations of state including purely hadronic configurations as well as hyperons and quark stars. In all cases, we assess that the relation between the parameter $alpha$ and the gravitational mass weakly depend upon the chosen equation of state. Another interesting feature is the increase of the star radius in comparison to General Relativity for stars with masses close to maximal, whereas for intermediate masses around 1.4-1.6 solar masses, the radius of star depends upon alpha very weakly. Also the decrease in the mass bounded by star surface may cause the surface redshift to decrease in R^2-gravity when compared to Einsteinian predictions. This effect is shown to hardly depend upon the observed gravitational mass. Finally, for negative values of alpha our analysis shows that outside the star the scalar curvature has damped oscillations but the contribution of the gravitational sphere into the gravitational mass increases indefinitely with radial distance putting into question the very existence of such relativistic stars.