Asymptotically anti–de Sitter spacetimes and scalar fields with a logarithmic branch

Abstract

We consider a self-interacting scalar field whose mass saturates the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound, minimally coupled to Einstein gravity with a negative cosmological constant in $D>~3$ dimensions. It is shown that the asymptotic behavior of the metric has a slower fall-off than that of pure gravity with a localized distribution of matter, due to the back-reaction of the scalar field, which has a logarithmic branch decreasing as ${r}^{\ensuremath{-}(D\ensuremath{-}1)/2}\mathrm{ln}r$ for large radius r. We find the asymptotic conditions on the fields which are invariant under the same symmetry group as pure gravity with negative cosmological constant (conformal group in $D\ensuremath{-}1$ dimensions). The generators of the asymptotic symmetries are finite even when the logarithmic branch is considered but acquire, however, a contribution from the scalar field.