Existence of Dark Energy Stars within Lower Mass Gap in the Realm of f ( Q ) $f(Q)$ Gravity

The object of this article is to study a new class of dark energy stars in the background of $f\left(Q\right)$ gravity by using the metric potentials proposed by Krori-Barua [J. Phys. A, Math. Gen. 8:508 (1975)]. To achieve the goal, a quadratic form of $f\left(Q\right)$ as $f\left(Q\right)=a{Q}^2+Q$ is taken into account for the static spherically symmetric spacetime,`a' being a coupling parameter of $f\left(Q\right)$ gravity. The maximum allowable masses with corresponding radii have been obtained via $M-R$ plots for $a=4,5,6,7$ and 8. The obtained maximum masses from our analysis are found in the range $(1.8-2.61)M_{\odot }$. For a smaller value of the coupling parameter ‘a’ associated with $f\left(Q\right)$ gravity, more massive stars are found. The radii corresponding to the maximum masses also increase with decreasing ‘a’. In particular, when $a=4$, the $f\left(Q\right)$ theory can achieve a dark energy star of mass $2.61M_{\odot }$ for certain specific combinations of model parameters. This obtained mass is located within a mass in the range of $(2.5-2.67)M_{\odot }$ and that can be a lighter object in the GW190814 event detected by LIGO/VIRGO experiments.