Development of local density perturbation technique to identify cracking points in f(R, T) gravity

Abstract

Abstract This paper investigate the impacts of local density perturbations on the stability of self-gravitating compact objects by utilizing cracking technique within the context of f(R, T) gravity, where R and T represent the Ricci scalar, and the trace of energy–momentum, respectively. To achieve this, we developed the hydrostatic equilibrium equation for spherically symmetric spacetime with anisotropic matter configuration and subsequently applied the Krori–Barua spacetime coefficient. Subsequently, the hydrostatic equilibrium equation of the configuration is perturbed by employing the local density perturbations to the system, while considering a barotropic equation of state. To ascertain the validity of the proposed technique, we applied it to several compact stars, including, Her X-1, SAX J1808.4-3658, 4U 1820-30, PSR J1614-2230, Vela X-1, Cen X-3, and RXJ1856-37 and found that all the considered stars exhibit cracking or overturning. This study conclusively highlights the significance of the cracking technique in providing valuable insights into the stability analysis of self-gravitating compact objects.