Black holes and gravitational waves in three-dimensional f(R) gravity

Abstract: In the three-dimensional pure Einstein gravity, the geometries of the vacuum space-times are always trivial, and gravitational waves (gravitons) are strictly forbidden. For the first time, we find a vacuum circularly symmetric black hole with nontrivial geometries in $f(R)$ gravity theory, in which a true singularity appears. In this frame with nontrivial geometry, a perturbative gravitational wave does exist. Beyond the perturbative level, we make a constructive proof of the existence of a gravitational wave in $f(R)$ gravity, where the Birkhoff-like theorem becomes invalid. We find two classes of exact solutions of circularly symmetric pure gravitational wave radiation and absorption.