Maximum mass limit of strange stars in quadratic curvature-matter coupled gravity

Abstract We explore the maximum mass limit of strange stars in quadratic curvature gravity with the non-minimal matter coupling. The characteristic parameters of the quadratic curvature coupling and the non-minimal matter coupling imply the contributions from higher-order curvature terms and the coupling between matter and geometry, respectively. We demonstrate, explicitly, that the conservation of energy–momentum tensor can be modified and in the case of negligible non-minimal matter coupling, the formalism of general relativity is recovered. By deriving the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff equations from the gravitational field equations and applying the MIT bag model equation of state, we obtain the corresponding mass-radius relationships for strange stars. Although the MIT bag model represents a simplified phenomenological equation of state, it remains an effective description of strange quark matter under the extreme conditions prevailing in neutron star/strange star interiors. Within the present framework, the adoption of this equation of state yields stellar radii that are in close agreement with those inferred from recent observations of compact stars as well as GW events. This consistency between theoretical predictions and observational results indicates that, despite its simplicity, the model captures essential features of dense matter and supports the reliability of the results reported in this work. Furthermore, we show that the maximum mass limit of strange stars can exceed the general relativistic counterpart. Specifically, we find that a maximum mass up to 3.11 solar mass is achievable which suggests that the lighter companion of GW190814 could plausibly be a strange star.