# Perturbative and non-perturbative, in Gauss-Bonnet coupling $\alpha$, scalar quasinormal modes of AdS black holes

Research paper by P. A. González, R. A. Konoplya, Yerko Vásquez

Indexed on: 17 Mar '17Published on: 17 Mar '17Published in: arXiv - General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

#### Abstract

It has recently been found that quasinormal modes of asymptotically anti-de Sitter (AdS) black holes in theories with higher curvature corrections may help to describe the regime of intermediate 't Hooft coupling in the dual field theory. Here we consider quasinormal modes of a scalar field in the background of spherical Gauss-Bonnet-AdS black holes. In general, the eigenvalues of wave equations are found here numerically, but at a fixed Gauss-Bonnet constant $\alpha = R^2/2$ (where $R$ is the AdS radius), an exact solution of the scalar field equation has been obtained. Remarkably, the purely imaginary modes, which are sometimes appropriate only to gravitational perturbations, were found here even for a test scalar field. These purely imaginary modes of the Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory do not have the Einsteinian limits, because their damping rates grow, when $\alpha$ is decreasing. Thus, these modes are non-perturbative in $\alpha$. The real oscillation frequencies of the perturbative branch are linearly related to their Schwarzschild-AdS limits $Re (\omega_{GB}) = Re (\omega_{SAdS}) (1+ K(D) (\alpha/R^2))$, $D$ is the number of spacetime dimensions. Comparison of the analytical formula with the frequencies found by the shooting method allows us to test the latter. In addition, we found exact solutions to the master equations for gravitational perturbations at $\alpha=R^2/2$, and observed that for the scalar type of gravitational perturbations an eikonal instability develops.