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Kerr black holes with self-interacting scalar hair: hairier but not heavier

The maximal ADM mass for (mini-)boson stars (BSs) -- gravitating solitons of Einstein's gravity minimally coupled to a free, complex, mass $μ$, Klein-Gordon field -- is $M_{\rm ADM}^{\rm max}\sim M_{Pl}^2/μ$. Adding quartic self-interactions to the scalar field theory, described by the Lagrangian $\mathcal{L}_I=λ|Ψ|^4$, the maximal ADM mass becomes $M_{\rm ADM}^{\rm max}\sim \sqrtλM_{Pl}^3/μ^2$. Thus, for mini-BSs, astrophysically interesting masses require ultra-light scalar fields, whereas self-interacting BSs can reach such values for bosonic particles with Standard Model range masses. We investigate how these same self-interactions affect Kerr black holes with scalar hair (KBHsSH) [1], which can be regarded as (spinning) BSs in stationary equilibrium with a central horizon. Remarkably, whereas the ADM mass scales in the same way as for BSs, the \textit{horizon mass} $M_H$ does not increases with the coupling $λ$, and, for fixed $μ$, it is maximized at the "Hod point", corresponding to the extremal Kerr black hole obtained in the vanishing hair limit. This mass is always $M_{\rm H}^{\rm max }\sim M_{\rm Pl}^2/μ$. Thus, introducing these self-interactions, the black hole spacetimes may become considerably "hairier" but the trapped regions cannot become "heavier". We present evidence this observation also holds in a model with $\mathcal{L}_I= β|Ψ|^6-λ|Ψ|^4$; if it extends to \textit{general} scalar field models, KBHsSH with astrophysically interesting horizon masses \textit{require} ultra-light scalar fields. Their existence, therefore, would be a smoking gun for such (beyond the Standard Model) particles.