Levi-Civita spacetimes in multidimensional theories

We obtain the most general static cylindrically symmetric vacuum solutions of the Einstein field equations in $(4 + N)$ dimensions. Under the assumption of separation of variables, we construct a family of Levi-Civita-Kasner vacuum solutions in $(4 + N)$. We discuss the dimensional reduction of the static solutions. Depending on the reduction procedure, they can be interpreted either as a scalar-vacuum generalization of Levi-Civita spacetimes, or as the effective 4D vacuum spacetime outside of an idealized string in braneworld theory.Comment: 7 pages. Accepted for publication in Mod. Phys. Lett. A (MPLA

Cylindrically symmetric, static strings with a cosmological constant in Brans-Dicke theory

The static, cylindrically symmetric vacuum solutions with a cosmological constant in the framework of the Brans-Dicke theory are investigated. Some of these solutions admitting Lorentz boost invariance along the symmetry axis correspond to local, straight cosmic strings with a cosmological constant. Some physical properties of such solutions are studied. These strings apply attractive or repulsive forces on the test particles. A smooth matching is also performed with a recently introduced interior thick string solution with a cosmological constant.Comment: 8 pages, Revtex; Published versio

Cylindrically Symmetric Vacuum Solutions in Higher Dimensional Brans-Dicke Theory

Higher dimensional, static, cylindrically symmetric vacuum solutions with and without a cosmological constant in the Brans-Dicke theory are presented. We show that, for a negative cosmological constant and for specific values of the parameters, a particular subclass of these solutions include higher dimensional topological black hole-type solutions with a flat horizon topology. We briefly extend our discussion to stationary vacuum and $\Lambda-$vacuum solutions.Comment: V3: Published Versio

Multiple Photonic Shells Around a Line Singularity

Line singularities including cosmic strings may be screened by photonic shells until they appear as a planar wall.Comment: 6 page

Gravitational hedgehog, stringy hedgehog and stringy sphere

We investigate the solutions of Einstein equations such that a hedgehog solution is matched to different exterior or interior solutions via a spherical shell. In the case where both the exterior and the interior regions are hedgehog solutions or one of them is flat, the resulting spherical shell becomes a stringy shell. We also consider more general matchings and see that in this case the shell deviates from its stringy character.Comment: 11 page

Static Cylindrical Matter Shells

Static cylindrical shells composed of massive particles arising from matching of two different Levi-Civita space-times are studied for the shell satisfying either isotropic or anisotropic equation of state. We find that these solutions satisfy the energy conditions for certain ranges of the parameters.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, Latex; Final version, To appear in General Relativity and Gravitatio

Superradiant Instability of Five-Dimensional Rotating Charged AdS Black Holes

We study the instability of small AdS black holes with two independent rotation parameters in minimal five-dimensional gauged supergravity to massless scalar perturbations. We analytically solve the Klein-Gordon equation for low-frequency perturbations in two regions of the spacetime of these black holes: namely, in the region close to the horizon and in the far-region. By matching the solutions in an intermediate region, we calculate the frequency spectrum of quasinormal modes. We show that in the regime of superradiance only the modes of even orbital quantum number undergo negative damping, resulting in exponential growth of the amplitude. That is, the black holes become unstable to these modes. Meanwhile, the modes of odd orbital quantum number do not undergo any damping, oscillating with frequency-shifts. This is in contrast with the case of four-dimensional small Kerr-AdS black holes which exhibit the instability to all modes of scalar perturbations in the regime of superradiance.Comment: 24 pages, REVTeX; Minor changes, matching published versio

A Unified Approach to Variational Derivatives of Modified Gravitational Actions

Our main aim in this paper is to promote the coframe variational method as a unified approach to derive field equations for any given gravitational action containing the algebraic functions of the scalars constructed from the Riemann curvature tensor and its contractions. We are able to derive a master equation which expresses the variational derivatives of the generalized gravitational actions in terms of the variational derivatives of its constituent curvature scalars. Using the Lagrange multiplier method relative to an orthonormal coframe, we investigate the variational procedures for modified gravitational Lagrangian densities in spacetime dimensions $n\geqslant 3$. We study well-known gravitational actions such as those involving the Gauss-Bonnet and Ricci-squared, Kretchmann scalar, Weyl-squared terms and their algebraic generalizations similar to generic $f(R)$ theories and the algebraic generalization of sixth order gravitational Lagrangians. We put forth a new model involving the gravitational Chern-Simons term and also give three dimensional New massive gravity equations in a new form in terms of the Cotton 2-form

Higher Dimensional Cylindrical or Kasner Type Electrovacuum Solutions

We consider a D dimensional Kasner type diagonal spacetime where metric functions depend only on a single coordinate and electromagnetic field shares the symmetries of spacetime. These solutions can describe static cylindrical or cosmological Einstein-Maxwell vacuum spacetimes. We mainly focus on electrovacuum solutions and four different types of solutions are obtained in which one of them has no four dimensional counterpart. We also consider the properties of the general solution corresponding to the exterior field of a charged line mass and discuss its several properties. Although it resembles the same form with four dimensional one, there is a difference on the range of the solutions for fixed signs of the parameters. General magnetic field vacuum solution are also briefly discussed, which reduces to Bonnor-Melvin magnetic universe for a special choice of the parameters. The Kasner forms of the general solution are also presented for the cylindrical or cosmological cases.Comment: 16 pages, Revtex. Text and references are extended, Published versio