Work

Neutron stars in Gauss-Bonnet extended Starobinsky gravity

Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Recently, a class of Gauss-Bonnet extended Starobinsky gravity was proposed, allowing black holes to carry ghost-free massive scalar hair for the first time without requiring additional matter fields. This intriguing feature offers a new perspective for understanding higher-curvature pure gravity and highlights the importance of further studying the potential effects of Gauss-Bonnet extensions in gravitational systems beyond black holes. In this study, we investigate the properties of neutron stars within this model, focusing on how the higher-curvature terms, particularly the coupling between the Gauss-Bonnet term and the curvature-squared term, impact the stellar structure. We present a detailed analysis of these effects and compute the moment of inertia for rotating neutron stars under the slow-rotation approximation. The substantial differences in the moment of inertia between general relativity and Gauss-Bonnet extended Starobinsky gravity are expected to be detectable through future high-precision observations.
Language: English
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4405622402
FWCI: 1.526
Cites: 91
Cited by: 8
Related to: 10