Missing solutions in scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity

Abstract

We discover novel neutron star solutions under scalar-Gauss-Bonnet (sGB) gravity which have been missed altogether in the existing literature. The complete solution space also reveals a new regularity condition that has to be satisfied by all scalarized stars. Certain scalarized branches of neutron star solutions under sGB gravity have long been known to abruptly terminate on stellar mass-radius diagrams at lower stellar radii, a phenomenon that has no counterpart in classical scalar-tensor theories. Such termination has been strongly suspected to be physical rather than a numerical artifact nevertheless, since sGB theories feature a regularity condition at the center of the star, which can prevent the existence of certain configurations. Motivated by the recently re-emerging phase-transition view of scalarization, we first predict that these terminated branches can reappear after a "gap." We confirm this by finding such reappearing branches, and also determine which parts of the theory parameter space are more amenable to such occurrences. We then show that the previously known central regularity condition cannot explain all the non-existing solutions in the gaps, which leads us to the discovery of a new, non-central, condition for the existence of scalarized neutron stars under sGB gravity.