Spherically symmetric spacetimes in massive gravity

We explore spherically symmetric stationary solutions, generated by “stars” with regular interiors, in purely massive gravity. We reexamine the claim that the resummation of nonlinear effects can cure, in a domain near the source, the discontinuity exhibited by the linearized theory as the mass m of the graviton tends to zero. First, we find analytical difficulties with this claim, which appears not to be robust under slight changes in the form of the mass term. Second, by numerically exploring the inward continuation of the class of asymptotically flat solutions, we find that, when m is “small,” they all end up in a singularity at a finite radius, well outside the source, instead of joining some conjectured “continuous” solution near the source. We reopen, however, the possibility of reconciling massive gravity with phenomenology by exhibiting a special class of solutions, with “spontaneous symmetry breaking” features, which are close, near the source, to general relativistic solutions and asymptote, for large radii, a de Sitter solution of curvature $\sim m^2.$