Dynamics of the $N$-body system in energy-momentum squared gravity: II. Existence of a Self-Acceleration

Abstract

We investigate the post-Newtonian (PN) dynamics of energy-momentum squared gravity (EMSG), with particular emphasis on the possibility of self-acceleration in $N$-body systems. A central challenge in matter-type modified gravity theories, including EMSG, is the non-vanishing divergence of the energy-momentum tensor, arising from the nonminimal interaction between the standard and modified matter fields. This feature can, in principle, influence the $N$-body dynamics. In our previous work (Nazari, 2024), its effects on the external-dependent part of the motion were studied in an EMSG class known as quadratic-EMSG. Here, we extend the analysis to the internal-structure-dependent contributions, namely self-acceleration. To this end, we relax the reflection-symmetric assumption adopted in (Nazari, 2024), and derive the complete equations of motion for a self-gravitating body in an $N$-body system up to the first PN order. By introducing a suitable expression for the center-of-mass acceleration and employing virial identities, including one newly emerging within the quadratic-EMSG framework, it is shown that self-acceleration vanishes. Furthermore, we establish a PN integral conservation law for the total momentum, demonstrating that, as in general relativity (GR), EMSG admits a conserved linear momentum compatible with the absence of self-acceleration. Binary pulsar experiments provide stringent bounds on self-acceleration, and our analysis shows that, within the present level of accuracy, EMSG is consistent with these constraints. Therefore, the theory remains viable in the strong-gravity regime probed by binary pulsars.