Imprints of the MIT bag equation of state on the compact stars in the framework of f(Q, T) gravity

This paper investigates a new model that describes the structure of spherically symmetric anisotropic compact stars in the framework of f ( Q, T ) gravity, where Q represents non-metricity and T is the trace of the energy-momentum tensor. We use the Tolman-Durgapal-V metric as the seed solution and apply the MIT bag model equation of state to obtain a closed form solution. To test the physical validity of our model, we apply it to two well-known compact star candidates: SAX J 178.9-2021 and 4U 1538-52. Using graphical features, we analyze key physical properties such as matter density, pressure profiles, anisotropy, equation of state parameters, energy conditions, mass function and important stability parameters including compactness, gravitational redshift, causality, Herrera’s cracking condition and the adiabatic index. The results demonstrate that our model is free from singularities and accurately describes a variety of observed compact stars. © 2025 Aptara Corporation.