Gravitationally bound structures composed by fermions and scalar particles known as fermion-boson stars are regular and static configurations obtained by solving the coupled Einstein-Klein-Gordon-Euler system. In this work, we discuss one possible scenario through which these fermion-boson stars may form by solving numerically the Einstein-Klein-Gordon-Euler system under the simplifying assumption of spherical symmetry. Our initial configurations assume an already existing neutron star surrounded by an accreting cloud of a massive and complex scalar field. The results of our simulations show that once part of the initial scalar field is expelled via gravitational cooling the system gradually oscillates around an equilibrium configuration that is asymptotically consistent with a static solution of the system. The formation of fermion-boson stars for large positive values of the coupling constant in the self-interaction term of the scalar-field potential reveal the presence of a node in the scalar field. This suggests that a fermionic core may help stabilize configurations with nodes in the bosonic sector, as happens for purely boson stars in which the ground state and the first excited state coexist.

• Received 22 June 2020
• Accepted 30 September 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.102.084063