Compact stars in a large-tension braneworld: mildly negative Weyl coupling consistent with NICER and gravitational-wave data

Abstract

We use Bayesian inference on multi-messenger observations to constrain the parameter space of compact stars in a phenomenological braneworld model inspired by the effective Sahni--Shtanov scenario. Stellar structure is described by modified Tolman--Oppenheimer--Volkoff equations including local quadratic brane corrections and a phenomenological closure for the nonlocal Weyl sector, parametrized by the brane tension $λ$, the Weyl coupling $α_{\mathcal{U}}$, and the Weyl equation-of-state parameter $w_{\mathcal{U}}$. Using the SLy equation of state, we perform an affine-invariant ensemble Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis combining mass--radius posteriors from GW170817 (LIGO/Virgo) and NICER observations of PSR~J0740$+$6620 and PSR~J1231$-$1411. The posterior yields $\log_{10}(λ/\mathrm{km}^{-2})=3.98^{+1.52}{-1.44}$ (68%), indicating a large-brane-tension regime where local high-energy corrections are subdominant. The Weyl coupling is constrained to $α{\mathcal{U}}=-0.15^{+0.30}{-0.08}$ (68%), while $w{\mathcal{U}}$ remains weakly constrained, with a 95% credible interval of $[-1.25,,1.02]$. The inferred stellar properties are $M_{\max}=2.30^{+0.14}{-0.08},M\odot$ and $R_{1.4}=13.31^{+0.54}_{-0.57},\mathrm{km}$ (68%), exceeding the corresponding General Relativity predictions for the SLy equation of state. The 95% posterior interval extends into the GW190814 secondary-mass range, although the median and best-fit values remain below it. These results show that a large-tension braneworld with a mildly negative Weyl coupling is consistent with current NICER and gravitational-wave constraints without requiring large deviations from General Relativity.