We establish various general results concerning static and spherically symmetric black hole solutions of general higher-derivative extensions of Einstein gravity. We prove that the only theories susceptible of admitting solutions with $g_{tt}g_{rr}=-1$ and representing the exterior field of a spherically symmetric distribution of mass are those that only propagate a massless and traceless graviton on the vacuum. Then, we provide a simple (and computationally powerful) sufficient condition for a theory to admit solutions of that kind, as well as a systematic way for constructing them for a given theory. We conjecture (and provide strong evidence) that all black holes constructed according to our criteria are completely determined by their mass (non-hairy), and such that their thermodynamic properties can be obtained by solving a system of algebraic equations without free parameters. Our results can be straightforwardly extended to planar and hyperbolic horizons. We illustrate this by obtaining new planar asymptotically $AdS_5$ black hole solutions of the recently constructed Generalized quasitopological gravity [arXiv:1703.01631], which belongs to the class of theories selected by our results.
We study the particle content of higher derivative theories of gravity built with contractions of the Riemann tensor and its covariant derivatives. In the absence of the latter, there is a family of theories exhibiting an Einsteinian spectrum known as generalized quasi-topological gravities. In turn, we present a no-go result for the construction of Einsteinian gravities involving covariant derivatives of the Riemann tensor. We find evidences suggesting that (truncated series) finite order Lagrangians with covariant derivatives of the Riemann tensor generically present ghosts in their spectrum…
We examine the Kerr/CFT correspondence in Einstein gravity extended with quadratic curvature invariants. We consider two explicit examples in four and five dimensions and compute the central charges of the asymptotic symmetry algebras of the near horizon geometries, using the improved version of the BBC formalism that encompasses the information of the Lagrangian. We find that the resulting Cardy entropy differs from the Wald entropy, caused by the Riemann-squared $R^{μνρσ}R_{μνρσ}$ term.
A simple method of obtaining path-integral measures in higher-derivative gravities is presented. The measures are nothing but the generalized Lee-Yang terms.
We propose a novel but natural definition of conserved quantities for gravity models quadratic and higher in curvature. Based on the spatial asymptotics of curvature rather than of metric, it avoids the GR energy machinery's more egregious problems--such as zero energy "theorems" and failure in flat backgrounds -- in this fourth-derivative realm. In D>4, the present expression indeed correctly discriminates between second derivative Gauss-Bonnet and generic, fourth derivative, actions.
It is shown that Chern-Simons gravities in $2n+1$ dimensions admit solutions described by the same lapse function which describes the BTZ black hole in the $n=1$ case. This has been carried out explicitly for $n=1,2,3$. Moreover, it is seen that these solutions are unique.
Using "complexity=action" proposal we study complexity growth of certain gravitational theories containing higher derivative terms. These include critical gravity in diverse dimensions. One observes that the complexity growth for neutral black holes saturates the proposed bound when the results are written in terms of physical quantities of the model. We will also study effects of shock wave to the complexity growth where we find that the presence of massive spin-2 mode slows down the rate of growth.
We generalize the local surface counterterm prescription suggested in Einstein gravity for higher derivative (HD) and Weyl gravities. Explicitly, the surface counterterm is found for three- and five-dimensional HD gravities. As a result, the gravitational action for asymptotically AdS spaces is finite and gravitational energy-momentum tensor is well-defined. The holographic trace anomaly for d2 and d4 boundary (gauge) QFT dual to above HD gravity is calculated from gravitational energy-momentum tensor. The calculation of AdS black hole mass in HD gravity is presented within above prescrition. …
Einstein gravities in general dimensions coupled to a cosmological constant and extended with quadratic curvature invariants admit a variety of black holes that may asymptote to Minkowski, anti-de Sitter or Lifshitz spacetimes. We adopt the Wald formalism to derive an explicit formula for calculating the thermodynamical first law for the static black holes with spherical/toric/hyperbolic isometries in these theories. This allows us to derive/rederive the first laws for a wide range of black holes in literature. Furthermore, we construct many new exact solutions and obtain their first laws.
We consider extended cosmological gravities with Ricci tensor and scalar squared terms in diverse dimensions. These theories admit solutions of Einstein metrics, including the Schwarzschild-Tangherlini AdS black holes, whose mass and entropy vanish at the critical point. We perform linearized analysis around the black holes and show that in general the spectrum consists of the usual spin-2 massless and ghost massive modes. We demonstrate that there is no exponentially-growing tachyon mode in the black holes. At the critical point, the massless spin-2 modes have zero energy whilst the massive s…
We present higher-derivative gravities that propagate an arbitrary number of gravitons of different mass on (A)dS backgrounds. These theories have multiple critical points, at which the masses degenerate and the graviton energies are non-negative. For six derivatives and higher there are critical points with positive energy.
In the present work we show that, in the linear regime, gravity theories with more than four derivatives can have remarkable regularity properties if compared to their fourth-order counterparts. To this end, we derive the expressions for the metric potentials associated to a pointlike mass in a general higher-order gravity model in the Newtonian limit. It is shown that any polynomial model with at least six derivatives in both spin-2 and spin-0 sectors has regular curvature invariants. We also discuss the dynamical problem of the collapse of a small mass, considered as a spherical superpositio…
Generalized quasi-topological gravities (GQTGs) are higher-curvature extensions of Einstein gravity characterized by the existence of non-hairy generalizations of the Schwarzschild black hole which satisfy $g_{tt}g_{rr}=-1$, as well as for having second-order linearized equations around maximally symmetric backgrounds. In this paper we provide strong evidence that any gravitational effective action involving higher-curvature corrections is equivalent, via metric redefinitions, to some GQTG. In the case of theories involving invariants constructed from contractions of the Riemann tensor and the…
We study slowly rotating black hole solutions in the six independent theories of Einstein Quartic Gravity (EQG) in four dimensions. Unlike in the static case for which all six theories yield the same solution, for rotating black holes we obtain distinct results for five out of the six theories. Working to leading order in the rotation parameter, we find that the equations characterizing these black holes can be reduced to second order for each theory, similar to what has already been done for Einstein Cubic Gravity. We construct approximate and numerical solutions to these equations, and study…
By choosing an appropriate vielbein basis, we obtain a class of spherically-symmetric solutions in $f(T)$ gravities. The solutions are asymptotic to Minkowski spacetimes with leading falloffs the same as those of the Schwarzschild black hole. In general, these solutions have branch-cut singularities in the middle. For appropriately chosen $f(T)$ functions, extremal black holes can also emerge. Furthermore, we obtain wormhole configurations whose spatial section is analogous to an Ellis wormhole, but $-g_{tt}$ runs from 0 to 1 as the proper radial coordinate runs from $-\infty$ to $+\infty$. Th…
In this work, we provide consistent compactifications of Einstein-Maxwell and Einstein-Maxwell-Lovelock theories on direct product spacetimes of the form $\mathcal{M}_D=\mathcal{M}_d\times\mathcal{K}^{p}$, where $\mathcal{K}^p$ is a Euclidean internal manifold of constant curvature. For these compactifications to take place, it is required the distribution of a precise flux of $p$-forms over the internal manifold. The dynamic of the $p$-forms are demanded to be controlled by two types of interaction. First, by specific couplings with the curvature tensor and, second, by a suitable interaction …
We study butterfly effect in $D$-dimensional gravitational theories containing terms quadratic in Ricci scalar and Ricci tensor. One observes that due to higher order derivatives in the corresponding equations of motion there are two butterfly velocities. The velocities are determined by the dimension of operators whose sources are provided by the metric. The three dimensional TMG model is also studied where we get two butterfly velocities at generic point of the moduli space of parameters. At critical point two velocities coincide.
In gravitational thermodynamics, the entropy of a black hole with distinct surface gravities can be evaluated in a microcanonical ensemble. At the $WKB$ level, the entropy becomes the negative of the Euclidean action of the constrained instanton, which is the seed for the black hole creation in the no-boundary universe. Using the Gauss-Bonnet theorem, we prove the quite universal formula in Euclidean quantum gravity that the entropy of a nonrotating black hole is one quarter the sum of the products of the Euler characteristics and the areas of the horizons. For Lovelock gravity, the entropy an…
The Lovelock gravity is a fascinating extension of general relativity, whose action consists of the dimensionally extended Euler densities. Compared to other higher order derivative gravity theories, the Lovelock gravity is attractive since it has a lot of remarkable features such as that there are no more than second order derivatives with respect to metric in its equations of motion, and that the theory is free of ghost. Recently in the study of black string and black brane in the Lovelock gravity, a special class of Lovelock gravity is considered, which is named pure Lovelock gravity, where…
In this paper, we investigate the growth rates of action for the anti-de Sitter black holes in massive-Einstein gravity models and obtain the universal behaviors of the growth rates of action (the rates of holographic complexity) within the "Wheeler-DeWitt"(WDW) patch at the late limit. Furthermore, we find that, for the static neutral cases, when the same mass of black holes is given, the computational speed of the neutral massive black hole is the same as its Einstein gravity counterpart, which is independent with the effect of the graviton mass terms, nevertheless, for the static charged ca…
We obtain the static spherically symmetric solutions of a class of gravitational models whose additions to the General Relativity (GR) action forbid Ricci-flat, in particular, Schwarzschild geometries. These theories are selected to maintain the (first) derivative order of the Einstein equations in Schwarzschild gauge. Generically, the solutions exhibit both horizons and a singularity at the origin, except for one model that forbids spherical symmetry altogether. Extensions to arbitrary dimension with a cosmological constant, Maxwell source and Gauss-Bonnet terms are also considered.
We study black hole solutions in extended gravities with higher-order curvature terms, including conformal and Einstein-Weyl gravities. In addition to the usual AdS vacuum, the theories admit Lifshitz and Schrödinger vacua. The AdS black hole in conformal gravity contains an additional parameter over and above the mass, which may be interpreted as a massive spin-2 hair. By considering the first law of thermodynamics, we find that it is necessary to introduce an associated additional intensive/extensive pair of thermodynamic quantities. We also obtain new Liftshitz black holes in conformal grav…
Supersymmetric higher derivative gravities define superconformal field theories via the AdS/CFT correspondence. From the boundary theory viewpoint, supersymmetry implies a relation between the coefficients which determine the three point function of the stress energy tensor which can be tested in the dual gravitational theory. We use this relation to formulate a necessary condition for the supersymmetrization of higher derivative gravitational terms. We then show that terms quadratic in the Riemann tensor do not present obstruction to supersymmetrization, while generic higher order terms do. F…
We identify a set of higher-derivative extensions of Einstein-Maxwell theory that allow for spherically symmetric charged solutions characterized by a single metric function $f(r)=-g_{tt}=1/g_{rr}$. These theories are a non-minimally coupled version of the recently constructed Generalized Quasitopological gravities and they satisfy a number of properties that we establish. We study magnetically-charged black hole solutions in these new theories and we find that for some of them the equations of motion can be fully integrated, enabling us to obtain analytic solutions. In those cases we show tha…
Regular black holes from pure gravity in four dimensions
Abdus Salam Centre for Theoretical Physics, Imperial College London（阿卜杜斯·萨拉姆理论物理中心，伦敦帝国理工学院）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC)（安达卢西亚天体物理研究所（IAA-CSIC））
We calculate the gravity one-loop partition function of three-dimensional parity even tricritical gravity. Agreement with logarithmic conformal field theory single-particle partition functions on the field theory side is found and we furthermore discover a partially massless limit of linearized six-derivative parity even gravity. Then we define a "truncation" of the critical theory, at the level of the partition function, by calculating black hole determinants via summation over quasi-normal mode spectra and discriminating against those modes which are not present in the physical spectrum. Thi…
We construct consistent interacting gauge theories for M conformal massless spin-2 fields ("Weyl gravitons") with the following properties: (i) in the free limit, each field fulfills the equation ${\cal B}^{μν} = 0$, where ${\cal B}^{μν}$ is the linearized Bach tensor, (ii) the interactions contain no more than four derivatives, just as the free action and (iii) the internal metric for the Weyl gravitons is not positive definite. The interacting theories are obtained by gauging appropriate non-semi-simple extensions of the conformal algebra $so(4,2)$ with commutative, associative algebras of d…
Recent studies of holographic properties of massless higher-order gravities, whose linear spectrum contains only the (massless) graviton, yielded some universal relations in $d=4$ dimensions between the holographic $a$, $c$ charges and the overall coefficient factor ${\cal C}_T$ of the energy-momentum tensor two-point function, namely $c=\frac{1}{d-1} \ell\frac{\partial a}{\partial \ell}={\cal C}_T$, where $\ell$ is the AdS radius. The second equality was shown to be valid in all dimensions. In this paper, we establish the first equality in $d=6$ by examining these quantities from $D=7$ higher…
We consider the generic massless cubic gravities coupled to a negative bare cosmological constant mainly in $D=5$ and $D=4$ dimensions, which are Einstein gravity extended with cubic curvature invariants where the linearized excited spectrum around the AdS background contains no massive modes. The generic massless cubic gravities are more general than Myers quasi-topological gravity in $D=5$ and Einsteinian cubic gravity in $D=4$. It turns out that the massless cubic gravities admit the black holes at least in a perturbative sense with the coupling constants of the cubic terms becoming infinit…
We study holographic implications of Lovelock gravities in AdS spacetimes. For a generic Lovelock gravity in arbitrary spacetime dimensions we formulate the existence condition for asymptotically AdS black holes. We consider small fluctuations around these black holes and determine the constraint on Lovelock parameters by demanding causality of the boundary theory. For the case of cubic Lovelock gravity in seven spacetime dimensions we compute the holographic Weyl anomaly and determine the three point functions of the stress energy tensor in the boundary CFT. Remarkably, these correlators happ…
We construct higher-derivative gravities with a non-minimally coupled Maxwell field. The Lagrangian consists of polynomial invariants built from the Riemann tensor and the Maxwell field strength in such a way that the equations of motion are second order for both the metric and the Maxwell potential. We also generalize the construction to involve a generic non-minimally coupled $p$-form field strength. We then focus on one low-lying example in four dimensions and construct the exact magnetically-charged black holes. We also construct exact electrically-charged $z=2$ Lifshitz black holes. We ob…
The recently proposed restricted phase space thermodynamics is shown to be applicable to a large class of higher dimensional higher curvature gravity models coupled to Maxwell field, which are known as black hole scan models and are labeled by the spacetime dimension $d$ and the highest order $k$ of the Lanczos-Lovelock densities appearing in the action. Three typical example cases with $(d,k)=(5,1), (5,2)$ and $(6,2)$ are chosen as example cases and studied in some detail. These cases are representatives of Einstein-Hilbert, Chern-Simons and Born-Infield like gravity models. Our study indicat…
The gravitational Lagrangian can be written as a summation of a bulk and a total derivative term. For some theories of gravity such as Einstein gravity, or more general Lovelock gravities, there are Lagrangian holographic relations between the bulk and the total derivative term such that the latter is fully determined by the former. However at the $D\rightarrow 2\&4$ limit, the bulks of Einstein or Gauss-Bonnet theories become themselves total derivatives. Performing the Kaluza-Klein reduction on Einstein and Gauss-Bonnet gravities gives rise to some two-dimensional or four-dimensional scalar-…
In higher derivative theories, gravity can travel slower or faster than light. With this feature in mind, we revisit the construction of the causal and entanglement wedges in this type of theories, and argue that they must be constructed using the fastest mode instead of null rays. We show that the property of causal wedge inclusion, i.e., the fact that the causal wedge must be contained in the entanglement wedge, leads to more stringent constraints on the couplings than those imposed by hyperbolicity and boundary causality. Our results imply that the full power of subregion-subregion duality …
We propose a new class of conformal higher spin gravities in three dimensions, which extends the one by Pope and Townsend. The main new feature is that there are infinitely many examples of the new theories with a finite number of higher spin fields, much as in the massless case. The action has the Chern-Simons form for a higher spin extension of the conformal algebra. In general, the new theories contain Fradkin-Tseytlin fields with higher derivatives in the gauge transformations, which is reminiscent of partially-massless fields. A relation of the old and new theories to the parity anomaly i…
A (3+1)-dimensional Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet effective description of gravity has been recently formulated as the $D \to 4$ limit of the higher dimensional field equations after the rescaling of the coupling constant. This approach has been recently extended to the four-dimensional Einstein-Lovelock gravity. Although validity of the regularization procedure has not been shown for the general case, but only for a wide class of metrics, the black-hole solution obtained as a result of such a regularization is also an exact solution in the well defined 4D Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory suggested by Aok…
We study the superradiance amplification factor (SAF) for a charged massive scalar wave scattering off small and slowly rotating Kerr-Newman black holes in $f(R)$ gravity immersed in asymptotically flat and de-Sitter spacetimes. We employ the \emph{``analytical asymptotic matching''} approximation technique which is valid in low frequency regime where the Compton wavelength of the propagating particle is much larger than the size of the black hole. The $f(R)$-Kerr-Newman family solution induces an extra distinguishable effect on the contribution of the black hole's electric charge to the metri…
The holographic bound has been extended to the different theory of gravities such as scalar-tensor gravity and $f(R)$ gravity according to the Noether charge definition of the entropy for a black hole surface. We have introduced some popular examples of the flat FRW cosmology in order to investigate holographic bound in scalar-tensor and $f(R)$ gravity. Using the holographic bound, we put an additional constraint on the scalar-tensor gravity and $f(R)$ gravity parameters. We also discuss about the transformation from Jordan frame to Einstein frame.
We study the structure of the higher-curvature gravitational densities that are induced from holographic renormalization in AdS$_{d+1}$. In a braneworld construction, such densities define a d-dimensional higher-curvature gravitational theory on the brane, which in turn is dual to a (d-1)-dimensional CFT living at its boundary. We show that this CFT$_{d-1}$ satisfies a holographic c-theorem in general dimensions (different than the g-theorem of holographic boundary CFTs), since at each and every order the higher-curvature densities satisfy c-theorems on their own. We find that, in these densit…
It is shown that polynomial gravity theories with more than four derivatives in each scalar and tensor sectors have a regular weak-field limit, without curvature singularities. This is achieved by proving that in these models the effect of the higher derivatives can be regarded as a complete regularization of the delta-source. We also show how this result implies that a wide class of non-local ghost-free gravities have a regular Newtonian limit too, and discuss the applicability of this approach to the case of weakly non-local models.
We consider spherically symmetric and static charged black holes in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet-Maxwell gravities in general $D\ge 5$ dimensions and study their photon spheres and black hole shadows. We show that they all satisfy the sequence of inequalities recently proposed relating a black hole's horizon, photon sphere, shadow and its mass.
We investigate the black hole solutions in the $R^2$-gravity, where the action contains the square of the curvature. In case that the action does not contain the square of the Riemann tensor and in case that the $R^2$-terms are the Gauss-Bonnet (GB) combination, we find exact solutions. We investigate the thermodynamics of these theories and find the Hawking-Page like phase transition, which is the phase transition between the black hole (BH) spacetime and the pure anti-deSitter (AdS) spacetime. From the viewpoint of the AdS/CFT correspondence, such a phase transition may correspond to thermal…
We study higher-derivative gravity theories in arbitrary space-time dimension d with a cosmological constant at their maximally critical points where the masses of all linearized perturbations vanish. These theories have been conjectured to be dual to logarithmic conformal field theories in the (d-1)-dimensional boundary of an AdS solution. We determine the structure of the linearized perturbations and their boundary fall-off behaviour. The linearized modes exhibit the expected Jordan block structure and their inner products are shown to be those of a non-unitary theory. We demonstrate the exi…
Recently, the identification of new higher-curvature interactions known as Einsteinian cubic gravity (ECG) and Generalized quasi-topological gravities (GQGs) has allowed for important advances in the study of black hole solutions and holographic applications of higher-order gravity. These theories are characterized by having second-order linearized equations on maximally symmetric background and by possessing static, spherically symmetric (SSS) black hole solutions satisfying $g_{tt}g_{rr}=-1$, and whose thermodynamic properties can be studied analytically in a fully non-perturbative fashion. …
We introduce a systematic way of constructing 3D exotic massive gravity theories in the first order formulation. Our method is based on truncating a single degree of freedom in the parity odd gravity models found earlier in arXiv:1405.6213 and supplementing it with appropriate potential terms such that the resulting models have well-defined metric equations but their Bianchi identities are satisfied only on-shell. Hence, they are `third way' consistent. We first re-derive two already known exotic theories using our approach and then construct an extended exotic massive gravity model whose metr…
