English

Maximum Force in Modified Gravity Theories

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2020-09-30 v3 High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

We investigate the existence and nature of classical maximum force bound between two black holes with touching horizons. Besides general relativity, the maximum force bound is independent of black hole masses only in Moffat's theory, Brans Dicke theory (which is the same as Einstein's for vacuum) and the higher dimensional generalization of Einstein's theory, pure Lovelock gravity which is characterised by having single nnth order term in Lovelock polynomial without sum over lower orders in the action. Further if the bound is to exist in higher dimensions and is entirely in terms of the velocity of light and the gravitational constant, it has uniquely to be pure Lovelock gravity. In pure Lovelock gravity, the maximum force bound exists in all 3n3n-space dimensions and has the value, c4/4Gnc^4/4G_n where GnG_n is the corresponding gravitational constant. The absence of mass dependence in the maximum force bound may have relevance for the formation of naked singularities.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2006.07338,
  title  = {Maximum Force in Modified Gravity Theories},
  author = {John D. Barrow and Naresh Dadhich},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2006.07338},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

10 pages, no figures, section on power law gravity dropped, additions to conclusions, The paper is dedicated to the fond memory of one of the authors, John Barrow who passed away on 26 Sept 2020 - Naresh Dadhich, coauthor

R2 v1 2026-06-23T16:17:03.212Z