Scattering of scalar waves by scalarized black holes in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity
Abstract
We systematically investigate the scattering and absorption of a massive scalar field by scalarized black holes in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity with quartic coupling f(ϕ)=α(ϕ2+βϕ4) and exponential coupling f(ϕ)=α(1−e−βϕ2). The background solutions are obtained numerically via a Chebyshev pseudospectral method, enabling a partial-wave analysis on purely numerical black hole backgrounds. The partial-wave results are cross-validated against geodesic and glory approximations and the Schwarzschild limit with excellent agreements. We find that scalarization suppresses the total absorption cross section relative to the Schwarzschild case, and produces distinctive signatures in the differential scattering cross section. A qualitative difference between the two coupling models is identified: for the quartic coupling model, deviations from Schwarzschild are concentrated in the intermediate-angle region ∼(70∘,140∘), with comparatively small changes at forward angles and near the glory peak; for the exponential coupling model, deviations appear across the full angular range and substantially modify the glory peak, which in some parameter regimes can even exceed the Schwarzschild value. This distinctive angular pattern provides a potential diagnostic for distinguishing EsGB coupling functions from scattering observables.
Related
- Black Holes and Scalar Propagation in Three-Dimensional Einstein--Gauss--Bonnet Gravity
- Second-order slow rotation of wormholes in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity
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- Scalarized extremal black holes in the Einstein-Maxwell-scalar theory with two U(1) fields
- Scalarized Einstein-Maxwell black holes in external scalar fields
BibTeX
@misc{li2026scattering,
title = {{Scattering of scalar waves by scalarized black holes in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity}},
author = {Junyi Li and Yinrong Fang and Yang Huang and Qian Li and Junji Jia},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.25316},
eprint = {2610.25316},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.25316},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Scattering of scalar waves by scalarized black holes in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity
AU - Junyi Li
AU - Yinrong Fang
AU - Yang Huang
AU - Qian Li
AU - Junji Jia
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/18
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.25316
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.25316
AB - We systematically investigate the scattering and absorption of a massive scalar field by scalarized black holes in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity with quartic coupling f(ϕ)=α(ϕ^2+βϕ^4) and exponential coupling f(ϕ)=α(1−e^−βϕ^2). The background solutions are obtained numerically via a Chebyshev pseudospectral method, enabling a partial-wave analysis on purely numerical black hole backgrounds. The partial-wave results are cross-validated against geodesic and glory approximations and the Schwarzschild limit with excellent agreements. We find that scalarization suppresses the total absorption cross section relative to the Schwarzschild case, and produces distinctive signatures in the differential scattering cross section. A qualitative difference between the two coupling models is identified: for the quartic coupling model, deviations from Schwarzschild are concentrated in the intermediate-angle region ∼(70^∘,140^∘), with comparatively small changes at forward angles and near the glory peak; for the exponential coupling model, deviations appear across the full angular range and substantially modify the glory peak, which in some parameter regimes can even exceed the Schwarzschild value. This distinctive angular pattern provides a potential diagnostic for distinguishing EsGB coupling functions from scattering observables.
ER -