{
  "abstract": "We investigate the hydrostatic equilibrium and global structure of neutron stars within symmetric teleparallel gravity, where gravitational interactions are mediated by the non-metricity scalar $Q$. Working within the metric-affine formulation, we adopt the regular, constant-$Q$ branch ($Q = Q_*$) of $f(Q)$ gravity, which preserves regularity at the stellar centre while maintaining explicit dependence on the non-linear functional form through $f(Q_*)$ and its derivatives. We propose three novel non-linear $f(Q)$ extensions: (i) a Born-Infeld-inspired model, (ii) a Hu--Sawicki analogue, and (iii) a Tsujikawa-inspired model. Incorporating state-of-the-art realistic unified equations of state, namely GPPVA(DD2) and SLy4, we numerically solve the modified Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations and evaluate stellar stability via the Harrison-Zel'dovich-Novikov criterion. The Born-Infeld and Hu-Sawicki analogues smoothly recover the general relativistic limit as their control parameters increase, predicting stellar radii for low-mass objects ($M < 2.0\\,M_\\odot$) that match observational constraints from X-ray binaries and GW170817; however, their maximum masses remain capped below $2.43\\,M_\\odot$ (DD2) and $2.06\\,M_\\odot$ (SLy4). Conversely, the Tsujikawa-inspired model significantly stiffens the effective gravitational coupling, accommodating massive compact objects up to $\\sim 3.36\\,M_\\odot$ and offering a viable physical origin for the $2.59_{-0.09}^{+0.08}\\,M_\\odot$ secondary object in GW190814, albeit at the expense of overpredicting radii for typical low-mass neutron stars. These contrasting behaviours demonstrate a key phenomenological complementarity between maximum mass and radius bounds within the constant-$Q$ framework, highlighting the utility of multimessenger observations in constraining non-linear non-metricity gravity.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.36814",
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Debadri Bhattacharjee"
    },
    {
      "name": "Pradip Kumar Chattopadhyay"
    },
    {
      "name": "P. H. R. S. Moraes"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9gk782exgpjb8.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.36814",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "9gk782exgpjb8",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.36814",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "gr-qc"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3103|Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7224129691",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.36814",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-27",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9gk782exgpjb8.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:35:50Z",
      "native_id": "2610.36814",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.36814"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:gr-qc",
      "subfield": "gravitation"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Realistic neutron stars in the constant-Q branch of f(Q) gravity",
  "title_text": "Realistic neutron stars in the constant-Q branch of f(Q) gravity",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T00:20:17Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9gk782exgpjb8",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}