Bounce Universe and Black Holes from Critical Einsteinian Cubic Gravity

TL;DR

This paper explores critical Einsteinian cubic gravity, revealing a special coupling point where linearized equations vanish, and constructs various bounce universe models, black holes, and wormbranes in four and five dimensions.

Contribution

It identifies a critical point in Einsteinian cubic gravity and constructs exact bounce universe solutions, black holes, and wormbranes, advancing understanding of higher-curvature gravity theories.

Findings

Existence of a critical coupling point where linearized equations vanish.

Construction of exact isotropic and anisotropic bounce universes.

Derivation of exact AdS black holes and wormbrane solutions.

Abstract

We show that there exists a critical point for the coupling constants in Einsteinian cubic gravity where the linearized equations on the maximally-symmetric vacuum vanish identically. We construct an exact isotropic bounce universe in the critical theory in four dimensions. The comoving time runs from minus infinity to plus infinity, yielding a smooth universe bouncing between two de Sitter vacua. In five dimensions we adopt numerical approach to construct a bounce solution, where a singularity occurred before the bounce takes place. We then construct exact anisotropic bounces that connect two isotropic de Sitter spacetimes with flat spatial sections. We further construct exact AdS black holes in the critical theory in four and five dimensions and obtain an exact AdS wormbrane in four dimensions.