Static neutron stars perspective of quadratic and induced inflationary attractor scalar-tensor theories

Abstract

Abstract This study focuses on the static neutron star perspective for two types of cosmological inflationary attractor theories, namely the induced inflationary attractors and the quadratic inflationary attractors. The two cosmological models can be discriminated cosmologically, since one of the two does not provide a viable inflationary phenomenology, thus in this paper we investigate the predictions of these theories for static neutron stars, mainly focusing on the mass and radii of neutron stars. We aim to demonstrate that although the models have different inflationary phenomenology, the neutron star phenomenology predictions of the two models are quite similar. We solve numerically the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff equations in the Einstein frame using a powerful double shooting numerical technique, and after deriving the mass-radius graphs for three types of polytropic equations of state, we derive the Jordan frame mass and radii. With regard the equations of state we use polytropic equation of state with the small density part being either the Wiringa–Fiks–Fabrocini, the Akmal–Pandharipande–Ravenhall or the intermediate stiffness equation of state Skyrme–Lyon (SLy). The results of our models will be confronted with quite stringent recently developed constraints on the radius of neutron stars with specific mass. As we show, the only equation of state which provides results compatible with the constraints is the SLy, for both the quadratic and induced inflation attractors. Thus nowadays, scalar-tensor descriptions of neutron stars are quite scrutinized due to the growing number of constraining observations, which eventually may also constrain theories of inflation.