Static regular black holes in Horndeski theories: analytic no-go and nonanalytic obstructions
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 remains nonzero is generically obstructed by divergent propagation speeds or ghost/gradient instabilities, aside from special degeneracies. On the regular branch, where vanishes at the horizon, analyticity at the relevant 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.
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