Constructing a family of conformally flat scalar field models

Abstract

Using purely geometrical methods we present a mechanism to solve the scalar field equations of motion (non-minimally coupled with gravity) in a spherically symmetric background. We found that the full set of spacetimes, which are of Petrov type O (conformally flat) and admit a gradient conformal vector field, can be determined completely. It is shown that the full group of scalar field equations reduced to a single equation that depends only on the distance leaving the metric function (equivalently the functional form of the scalar field or the potential) freely chosen. Depending on the structure of the metric or the potential V (as a function of φ) a solution can be found either analytically or via numerical integration. We provide physically sound examples and prove that (Anti)-de Sitter fits this scheme. We also reconstruct a recently found solution (Strumia and Tetradis 2022 J. High Energy Phys. JHEP09(2022)203) representing an expanding scalar bubble with metric that has a singularity and corresponds to what is termed as Anti-de Sitter crunch.