In the context of whether a massive compact object recently observed in the GW190814 event is a neutron star (NS) or not, we study the role of the parameters $\kappa$ and ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c$ of the Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld (EiBI) gravity theory in the NS mass-radius relation, moment of inertia, and tidal deformability. The results are compared to recent observational constraints extracted from the analysis of NS observation data. The NS core equation of state (EoS) is calculated using the relativistic mean-field model with the G3 parameter set. In the hyperon sector, the SU(3) and hyperon potential depths are used to determine the hyperon coupling constants. For the inner and outer crusts, we use the crust EoS from Miyatsu et al. [Astrophys. J. 777, 4 (2013)]. We also maintain the sound speed to not exceed $c/\sqrt{3}$ at high densities. We find that, in general, the NS mass significantly depends on the value of $\kappa$, and the radius $R$ is sensitive to the value of ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c$. Moreover, as ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c$ is equal to zero or less than the accepted bound of the cosmological constant, the NS within the EiBI theory is compatible with observational constraints, including $2.0M_{\odot }$ mass, canonical radius $R_{1.4M_{\odot }}$, moment of inertia, and tidal deformation. Our investigation also reveals that the $2.6M_{\odot }$ mass compact object and current observational constraint of canonical radius $R_{1.4M_{\odot }}$ can simultaneously be satisfied only when the ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c$ value is unphysically too large and negative. Therefore, within the specific EoS employed in this work, we conclude that the secondary object with $2.6M_{\odot }$ observed in the GW190814 event [1] is not likely a static (or a slow-rotating) NS within the EiBI gravity theory.

• Received 3 April 2021
• Revised 3 August 2021
• Accepted 9 September 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.104.084029