Testing the limits of scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity through nonlinear evolutions of spin-induced scalarization

TL;DR

This study investigates the loss of hyperbolicity in scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity during nonlinear evolutions of spin-induced scalarization of Kerr black holes, highlighting the limitations of the effective field theory approach in strong gravity regimes.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates that hyperbolicity loss is dominated by physical modes and occurs within the EFT validity regime, using a novel gauge formulation and analysis of scalarization in Kerr black holes.

Findings

Hyperbolicity is lost when scalar field gradients become large.

Loss of hyperbolicity is linked to physical gravitational modes.

The EFT validity is exceeded at the point of hyperbolicity loss.

Abstract

Quadratic theories of gravity with second order equations of motion provide an interesting model for testing deviations from general relativity in the strong gravity regime. However, they can suffer from a loss of hyperbolicity, even for initial data that is in the weak coupling regime and free from any obvious pathology. This effect has been studied in a variety of cases including isolated black holes and binaries. Here we explore the loss of hyperbolicity in spin-induced scalarization of isolated Kerr black holes in a scalar-Gauss-Bonnet theory of gravity, employing the modified CCZ4 formulation that has recently been developed. We find that, as in previous studies, hyperbolicity is lost when the scalar field and its gradients become large, and identify the breakdown in our evolutions with the physical modes of the purely gravitational sector. We vary the gauge parameters and find the results to be independent of their value. This, along with our use of a different gauge formulation to previous works, supports the premise that the loss of hyperbolicity is dominated by the physical modes. Since scalar-Gauss-Bonnet theories can be viewed as effective field theories (EFTs), we also examine the strength of the coupling during the evolution. We find that at the moment when hyperbolicity is lost the system is already well within the regime where the EFT is no longer valid. This reinforces the idea that the theories should only be applied within their regime of validity, and not treated as complete theories in their own right.