We present the first numerical models of differentially rotating stars in alternative theories of gravity. We chose a particular class of scalar-tensor theories of gravity that is indistinguishable from general relativity in the weak-field regime but can lead to significant deviations when strong fields are considered. We show that the maximum mass that a differentially rotating neutron star can sustain increases significantly for scalarized solutions and such stars can reach larger angular momenta. In addition, the presence of a nontrivial scalar field has the effect of increasing the required axis ratio for reaching a given value of angular momentum, when compared to a corresponding model of the same rest mass in general relativity. We find that the scalar field also makes rapidly rotating models less quasitoroidal than their general-relativistic counterparts. For large values of the angular momentum and values of the coupling parameter that are in agreement with the observations, we find a second turning point for scalarized models along constant angular momentum sequences, which could have interesting implications for the stability of remnants created in a binary neutron star merger.

• Received 2 August 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.98.104039