Conserved charges for black holes in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity coupled to nonlinear electrodynamics in AdS space

Motivated by possible applications within the framework of anti-de Sitter gravity/Conformal Field Theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence, charged black holes with AdS asymptotics, which are solutions to Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity in D dimensions, and whose electric field is described by a nonlinear electrodynamics (NED) are studied. For a topological static black hole ansatz, the field equations are exactly solved in terms of the electromagnetic stress tensor for an arbitrary NED Lagrangian, in any dimension D and for arbitrary positive values of Gauss-Bonnet coupling. In particular, this procedure reproduces the black hole metric in Born-Infeld and conformally invariant electrodynamics previously found in the literature. Altogether, it extends to D>4 the four-dimensional solution obtained by Soleng in logarithmic electrodynamics, which comes from vacuum polarization effects. Fall-off conditions for the electromagnetic field that ensure the finiteness of the electric charge are also discussed. The black hole mass and vacuum energy as conserved quantities associated to an asymptotic timelike Killing vector are computed using a background-independent regularization of the gravitational action based on the addition of counterterms which are a given polynomial in the intrinsic and extrinsic curvatures.Comment: 30 pages, no figures; a few references added; final version for PR

Holographic correlation functions in Critical Gravity

We compute the holographic stress tensor and the logarithmic energy-momentum tensor of Einstein-Weyl gravity at the critical point. This computation is carried out performing a holographic expansion in a bulk action supplemented by the Gauss-Bonnet term with a fixed coupling. The renormalization scheme defined by the addition of this topological term has the remarkable feature that all Einstein modes are identically cancelled both from the action and its variation. Thus, what remains comes from a nonvanishing Bach tensor, which accounts for non-Einstein modes associated to logarithmic terms which appear in the expansion of the metric. In particular, we compute the holographic $1$-point functions for a generic boundary geometric source.Comment: 21 pages, no figures,extended discussion on two-point functions, final version to appear in JHE

Magnetic Mass in 4D AdS Gravity

We provide a fully-covariant expression for the diffeomorphic charge in 4D anti-de Sitter gravity, when the Gauss-Bonnet and Pontryagin terms are added to the action. The couplings of these topological invariants are such that the Weyl tensor and its dual appear in the on-shell variation of the action, and such that the action is stationary for asymptotic (anti) self-dual solutions in the Weyl tensor. In analogy with Euclidean electromagnetism, whenever the self-duality condition is global, both the action and the total charge are identically vanishing. Therefore, for such configurations the magnetic mass equals the Ashtekhar-Magnon-Das definition.Comment: 21 pages, no figures; one reference added; final version for PR

Renormalized AdS action and Critical Gravity

It is shown that the renormalized action for AdS gravity in even spacetime dimensions is equivalent -on shell- to a polynomial of the Weyl tensor, whose first non-vanishing term is proportional to $Weyl^2$. Remarkably enough, the coupling of this last term coincides with the one that appears in Critical Gravity.Comment: 15 pages, references added, version accepted to JHE

Charged Rotating Black Hole Formation from Thin Shell Collapse in Three Dimensions

The thin shell collapse leading to the formation of charged rotating black holes in three dimensions is analyzed in the light of a recently developed Hamiltonian formalism for these systems. It is proposed to demand, as a way to reconcile the properties of an infinitely extended solenoid in flat space with a magnetic black hole in three dimensions, that the magnetic field should vanish just outside the shell. The adoption of this boundary condition results in an exterior solution with a magnetic field different from zero at a finite distance from the shell. The interior solution is also found and assigns another interpretation, in a different context, to the magnetic solution previously obtained by Cl\'{e}ment and by Hirschmann and Welch.Comment: 15 pages, no figures. Discussion on junction conditions and conclusions enlarged. Few references added. Final version for MPL

Noether-Wald energy in Critical Gravity

Criticality represents a specific point in the parameter space of a higher-derivative gravity theory, where the linearized field equations become degenerate. In 4D Critical Gravity, the Lagrangian contains a Weyl-squared term, which does not modify the asymptotic form of the curvature. The Weyl$^{2}$ coupling is chosen such that it eliminates the massive scalar mode and it renders the massive spin-2 mode massless. In doing so, the theory turns consistent around the critical point. Here, we employ the Noether-Wald method to derive the conserved quantities for the action of Critical Gravity. It is manifest from this energy definition that, at the critical point, the mass is identically zero for Einstein spacetimes, what is a defining property of the theory. As the entropy is obtained from the Noether-Wald charges at the horizon, it is evident that it also vanishes for any Einstein black hole.Comment: 7 pages, no figures, Final version for PL