Magnetized relativistic stellar models in Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity

Abstract

We consider the structure of the magnetic fields inside the neutron stars in Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld (EiBI) gravity. In order to construct the magnetic fields, we derive the relativistic Grad-Shafranov equation in EiBI, and numerically determine the magnetic distribution in such a way that the interior magnetic fields should be connected to the exterior distribution. Then, we find that the magnetic distribution inside the neutron stars in EiBI is qualitatively similar to that in general relativity, where the deviation of magnetic distribution in EiBI from that in general relativity is almost comparable to uncertainty due to the equation of state (EOS) for the neutron star matter. However, we also find that the magnetic fields in the crust region are almost independent of the coupling constant in EiBI, which suggests a possibility to obtain the information about the crust EOS independently of the gravitational theory via the observations of the phenomena associated with the crust region. In any case, since the imprint of EiBI gravity on the magnetic fields is weak, the magnetic fields could be a poor probe of gravitational theories, considering many magnetic uncertainties.