{"title":"Mass-Gap Neutron Stars from Vector f(R) Gravity Inflationary Deformations","authors":"V. K. Oikonomou","doi":"10.1007/s10714-025-03451-9","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The latest observations from the LIGO-Virgo indicated the existence of mass-gap region astrophysical objects. This is a rather sensational observation and there are two possibilities for the nature of these mass-gap region astrophysical objects, these are either small black holes that result from the mergers of ordinary mass neutron stars, or these are heavy neutron stars. In the line of research implied by the former possibility, in this work we shall examine the implied neutron star phenomenology from vector <i>f</i>(<i>R</i>) gravity inflationary models. These theories are basically scalar-tensor deformations of the Starobinsky inflationary model. We shall present the essential features of cosmologically viable and non-viable deformations of the Starobinsky model, originating from vector <i>f</i>(<i>R</i>) gravity inflationary theories, and we indicate which models and for which equations of state provide a viable neutron star phenomenology. We solve the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov equations using a robust double shooting LSODA python based code, for the following piecewise polytropic equations of state: the WFF1, the SLy, the APR, the MS1, the AP3, the AP4, the ENG, the MPA1 and the MS1b. We confront the resulting phenomenology with several well-known neutron star constraints, and we indicate which equation of state and model fits the phenomenological constraints. A remarkable feature, also known from other inflationary attractor models, is that the MPA1 is the equation of state which is most nicely fitted to the constraints, for all the theoretical models used, and actually the maximum mass for this equation of state is well inside the mass-gap region. Another mentionable feature that stroked us with surprise is the fact that even cosmologically non-viable inflationary models produced a viable neutron star phenomenology, which most likely has to be a model-dependent feature.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":578,"journal":{"name":"General Relativity and Gravitation","volume":"57 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"General Relativity and Gravitation","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10714-025-03451-9","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The latest observations from the LIGO-Virgo indicated the existence of mass-gap region astrophysical objects. This is a rather sensational observation and there are two possibilities for the nature of these mass-gap region astrophysical objects, these are either small black holes that result from the mergers of ordinary mass neutron stars, or these are heavy neutron stars. In the line of research implied by the former possibility, in this work we shall examine the implied neutron star phenomenology from vector f(R) gravity inflationary models. These theories are basically scalar-tensor deformations of the Starobinsky inflationary model. We shall present the essential features of cosmologically viable and non-viable deformations of the Starobinsky model, originating from vector f(R) gravity inflationary theories, and we indicate which models and for which equations of state provide a viable neutron star phenomenology. We solve the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov equations using a robust double shooting LSODA python based code, for the following piecewise polytropic equations of state: the WFF1, the SLy, the APR, the MS1, the AP3, the AP4, the ENG, the MPA1 and the MS1b. We confront the resulting phenomenology with several well-known neutron star constraints, and we indicate which equation of state and model fits the phenomenological constraints. A remarkable feature, also known from other inflationary attractor models, is that the MPA1 is the equation of state which is most nicely fitted to the constraints, for all the theoretical models used, and actually the maximum mass for this equation of state is well inside the mass-gap region. Another mentionable feature that stroked us with surprise is the fact that even cosmologically non-viable inflationary models produced a viable neutron star phenomenology, which most likely has to be a model-dependent feature.
期刊介绍:
General Relativity and Gravitation is a journal devoted to all aspects of modern gravitational science, and published under the auspices of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation.
It welcomes in particular original articles on the following topics of current research:
Analytical general relativity, including its interface with geometrical analysis
Numerical relativity
Theoretical and observational cosmology
Relativistic astrophysics
Gravitational waves: data analysis, astrophysical sources and detector science
Extensions of general relativity
Supergravity
Gravitational aspects of string theory and its extensions
Quantum gravity: canonical approaches, in particular loop quantum gravity, and path integral approaches, in particular spin foams, Regge calculus and dynamical triangulations
Quantum field theory in curved spacetime
Non-commutative geometry and gravitation
Experimental gravity, in particular tests of general relativity
The journal publishes articles on all theoretical and experimental aspects of modern general relativity and gravitation, as well as book reviews and historical articles of special interest.