Quark Stars in $f(T,\mathcal{T}) $ Gravity: Structure, Stability, and Observational Constraints

Abstract

Quark stars-hypothetical compact stars made entirely of deconfined quark matter-offer a clean testing ground for gravity beyond general relativity. We study their structure in $f(T,\mathcal{T})$ gravity, a teleparallel theory in which torsion is coupled directly to the trace of the energy-momentum tensor through a single constant coupling. Using the standard MIT bag description of quark matter, we solve the modified stellar structure equations and follow how the mass, radius, compactness, and surface redshift respond as the coupling is varied across its full admissible range. The maximum mass turns out to depend on the coupling in a non-monotonic way: it rises above the general relativity value, peaks near 2.02 solar masses at a moderate positive coupling, and then falls steeply as the coupling approaches a critical value at which the structure equations become singular. The two-solar-mass pulsar constraint is satisfied within a finite window of positive couplings. All configurations on the candidate stable branch satisfy causality and remain below the standard general-relativistic compactness and surface-redshift benchmarks.