Energy conditions and stability in $f(R)$ theories of gravity with nonminimal coupling to matter

Recently, in the context of $f(R)$ modified theories of gravity, a new type of model has been proposed where one directly couples the scalar curvature to matter. As any model in $f(R)$ theory, there are certain conditions which have to be satisfied in order to ensure that the model is viable and physically meaningful. In this paper, one considers this new class of models with curvature-matter coupling and study them from the point of view of the energy conditions and of their stability under the Dolgov-Kawasaki criterion.