Spherically symmetric black holes in f (R) gravity: is geometric scalar hair supported?

Abstract

We critically discuss current research on black hole (BH) solutions in f (R) gravity and shed light on its geometrical and physical significance. We also investigate the meaning, existence or lack thereof of Birkhoff’s theorem (BT) in this kind of modified gravity. We then focus on the analysis and search for non-trivial (i.e. hairy) asymptotically flat (AF) BH solutions in static and spherically symmetric (SSS) spacetimes in vacuum having the property that the Ricci scalar does not vanish identically in the domain of outer communication. To do so, we provide and enforce regularity conditions at the horizon in order to prevent the presence of singular solutions there. Specifically, we consider several classes of f (R) models like those proposed recently for explaining the accelerated expansion in the Universe and which have been thoroughly tested in several physical scenarios. Finally, we report analytical and numerical evidence about the absence of geometric hair in AFSSSBH solutions in those f (R) models. First, we submit the models to the available no-hair theorems (NHTs), and in the cases where the theorems apply, the absence of hair is demonstrated analytically. In the cases where the theorems do not apply, we resort to a numerical analysis due to the complexity of the non-linear differential equations. With that aim, a code to solve the equations numerically was built and tested using well-known exact solutions. In a future investigation we plan to analyze the problem of hair in de Sitter and anti-de Sitter backgrounds.