Abstract

Scalar hair of black holes in theories with a shift symmetry are constrained by the no-hair theorem of Hui and Nicolis, assuming spherical symmetry, time-independence of the scalar field and asymptotic flatness. The most studied counterexample is a linear coupling of the scalar with the Gauss-Bonnet invariant. However, in this case the norm of the shift-symmetry current J2J^2 diverges at the horizon casting doubts on whether the solution is physically sound. We show that this is not an issue since J2J^2 is not a scalar quantity, since JμJ^μ is not a diff-invariant current in the presence of Gauss-Bonnet. The same theory can be written in Horndeski form with a non-analytic function G5∼log⁡XG_5 \sim \log X. In this case the shift-symmetry current is diff-invariant, but contains powers of XX in the denominator, so that its divergence at the horizon is again immaterial. We confirm that other hairy solutions in the presence of non-analytic Horndeski functions are pathological, featuring divergences of physical quantities as soon as one departs from time-independence and spherical symmetry. We generalise the no-hair theorem to Beyond Horndeski and DHOST theories, showing that the coupling with Gauss-Bonnet is necessary to have hair.

Explore this paper’s authors, topics and related work.

Building this map preview

BZPEER is loading the nearby papers, people, topics and institutions for this page.

Reviews 0

Write a reviewWrite

No reviews yet.

Discussion 0

Add a commentWrite

No comments yet.