Exact solutions for the Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory in five dimensions: Black holes, wormholes, and spacetime horns

An exhaustive classification of a certain class of static solutions for the five-dimensional Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory in vacuum is presented. The class of metrics under consideration is such that the spacelike section is a warped product of the real line with a nontrivial base manifold. It is shown that for generic values of the coupling constants the base manifold must be necessarily of constant curvature, and the solution reduces to the topological extension of the Boulware-Deser metric. It is also shown that the base manifold admits a wider class of geometries for the special case when the Gauss-Bonnet coupling is properly tuned in terms of the cosmological and Newton constants. This freedom in the metric at the boundary, which determines the base manifold, allows the existence of three main branches of geometries in the bulk. For the negative cosmological constant, if the boundary metric is such that the base manifold is arbitrary, but fixed, the solution describes black holes whose horizon geometry inherits the metric of the base manifold. If the base manifold possesses a negative constant Ricci scalar, two different kinds of wormholes in vacuum are obtained. For base manifolds with vanishing Ricci scalar, a different class of solutions appears resembling “spacetime horns.” There is also a special case for which, if the base manifold is of constant curvature, due to a certain class of degeneration of the field equations, the metric admits an arbitrary redshift function. For wormholes and spacetime horns, there are regions for which the gravitational and centrifugal forces point towards the same direction. All of these solutions have finite Euclidean action, which reduces to the free energy in the case of black holes, and vanishes in the other cases. The mass is also obtained from a surface integral.

Figure 1

Gravitational vs centrifugal forces for wormholes and spacetime horns. In this diagram, black and dashed arrows represent effective gravitational and centrifugal forces, respectively. Parts (a) and (b) correspond to the wormholes (39, 40), while parts (c) and (d) represent the spacetime horns (47, 48), respectively.