The existence of relativistic stars in f(R) gravity

Abstract

We refute recent claims in the literature that stars with relativistically deep potentials cannot exist in $f(R)$ gravity. Numerical examples of stable stars, including relativistic ($G{M}_{\star }/r_{\star }\sim 0.1$), constant density stars, are studied. As a star is made larger, non-linear "chameleon" effects screen much of the star's mass, stabilizing gravity at the stellar center. Furthermore, we show that the onset of this chameleon screening is unrelated to strong gravity. At large central pressures $P>\rho /3$, $f(R)$ gravity, like general relativity, does have a maximum gravitational potential, but at a slightly smaller value: $G{M}_{\star }/r_{\star }=0.345<4/9$ for constant density and one choice of parameters. This difference is associated with negative central curvature $R$ under general relativity not being accessed in the $f(R)$ model, but does not apply to any known astrophysical object.

Comments: 10 pages, 7 figures