On the possibility of setting a new constraint to scalar-tensor theories

Abstract

Scalar-tensor theories (STTs) are a widely studied alternative to General Relativity (GR) in which gravity is endowed with an additional scalar degree of freedom. Although severely constrained by solar system and pulsar timing experiments, there remains a large set of STTs which are consistent with all present day observations. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of probing a yet unconstrained region of the parameter space of STTs based on the fact that stability properties of highly compact neutron stars in these theories may radically differ from those in GR.