English

Static regular black holes in Horndeski theories: analytic no-go and nonanalytic obstructions

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2026-07-09 v1 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

Regular black holes in Horndeski theories must have stable horizons and regular centers. We study static, spherically symmetric, asymptotically flat configurations with a time-independent scalar. The horizon branch on which the scalar kinetic term XX remains nonzero is generically obstructed by divergent propagation speeds or ghost/gradient instabilities, aside from special degeneracies. On the regular branch, where XX vanishes at the horizon, analyticity at the relevant X=0X=0 endpoints reduces the leading scalar equation to finite sets of Taylor coefficients. For nondegenerate shift-symmetric theories this gives a nonperturbative current no-hair theorem: the scalar is constant and the metric is Schwarzschild, hence centrally singular for nonzero ADM mass. For non-shift-symmetric positive-power couplings, the corresponding exclusion applies to the perturbative branch continuously connected to Schwarzschild. We also classify marginal nonanalytic departures: covariant regularity fixes the scalar-Gauss-Bonnet chain as the unique marginal nonanalytic completion. Hairy black holes in this completion evade the analytic current step but remain centrally singular.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.08228,
  title  = {Static regular black holes in Horndeski theories: analytic no-go and nonanalytic obstructions},
  author = {Antonio De Felice and Shinji Tsujikawa},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.08228},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

8 pages, no figures