Cosmological implications of the constant jerk parameter in $f(Q,T)$ gravity theory

Abstract

This study delves into modified gravity theories that are equivalent to General Relativity but involve the torsion or non-metricity scalar instead of the curvature scalar. Specifically, we focus on $f(Q,T)$ gravity, which entails an arbitrary function of the non-metricity scalar $Q$ non-minimally coupled to the trace of the stress-energy tensor $T$. We investigate the functional form $f(Q,T)=f(Q)+f(T)$, where $f(Q) =Q+\alpha\,Q^2$ represents the Starobinsky model in $f(Q)$ gravity and $f(T)=2\,\gamma\,T$, with $\alpha$ and $\gamma$ are constants. To obtain solutions for the Friedmann equations, we introduce the concept of a constant jerk and employ its definition to trace the evolution of other kinematic variables, including the deceleration parameter, energy density, EoS parameter, and various energy conditions. These analyses serve to validate the proposed model. We constrain our constant jerk model using the most available Pantheon set of data, the Hubble set of data, and the BAO set of data. Further, we employ $Om(z)$ diagnostic as a means to differentiate between different theories of dark energy. Throughout our examination, all cosmological parameters under scrutiny consistently indicate an accelerating Universe.