Spherically symmetric scalar vacuum: No-go theorems, black holes and solitons (Q1873860)

A wide set of space-times is connected with the so-called false vacuum, i.e., the system with the action \[ S=\int d^4x\sqrt{-g} [R+(\partial\varphi)^2-2V(\varphi)],\tag{1} \] where \(R\) is the scalar curvature, \(g = \det(g_{\mu\nu})\), \(\varphi\) is a scalar field, \((\partial\varphi)^2 =g^{\mu\nu}\partial_\mu\varphi\partial_\nu\varphi\), and the function \(V(\varphi)\) is a potential. The authors continue the study of global properties of scalar-vacuum configurations begun in the paper \textit{K. A. Bronnikov} [Phys. Rev. D (3) 63, 04405 (2001)], which provided some essential restrictions on the possible behaviour of solutions of the theory (1) with arbitrary \(V(\varphi)\) in 4 dimensions. The authors prove two restriction (no-go) theorems characterizing the global properties of static, spherically symmetric configurations of a self-gravitating real scalar field \(\varphi\) in general relativity (GR) in various dimensions, with an arbitrary potential \(V(\varphi)\), not necessarily positive-definite. The results are extended to sigma models, scalar-tensor and curvature-nonlinear theories of gravity. The list of all possible types of space-time causal structure in the models under consideration is the same as the one for \(\varphi =\text{const}\), namely, Minkowski (or AdS), Schwarzschild, de Sitter and Schwarzschild-de Sitter, and all horizons are simple. Some special features of (\(2+1\))-dimensional gravity are revealed. Examples of two types of asymptotically flat configurations with positive mass in GR, still admitted by the above theorems, are given: (i) a black hole with a nontrivial scalar field (``scalar hair'') and (ii) a particlelike (solitonic) solution with a regular centre; in both cases, the potential \(V(\varphi\)) must be at least partially negative. The global effects of conformal mappings that connect different theories and illustrate such effects for solutions with a conformal scalar field in GR are also discussed.