Thin Accretion Disk around a four-dimensional Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet Black Hole

Abstract: Recently a novel four-dimensional Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet (4EGB) theory of gravity was proposed by Glavan and Lin [D. Glavan and C. Lin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 081301 (2020)] which includes a regularized Gauss-Bonnet term by using the re-scaling of the Gauss-Bonnet coupling constant $\alpha \to \alpha/(D-4)$ in the limit $D\to 4$. This theory also has been reformulated to a specific class of the Horndeski theory with an additional scalar degree of freedom and to a spatial covariant version with a Lagrangian multiplier that can eliminate the scalar mode. Here we study the physical properties of the electromagnetic radiation emitted from a thin accretion disk around the static spherically symmetric black hole in the 4EGB gravity. For this purpose, we assume the disk is in a steady-state and in hydrodynamic and thermodynamic equilibrium so that the emitted electromagnetic radiation is a black body spectrum. We study in detail the effects of the Gauss-Bonnet coupling constant $\alpha$ in 4EGB gravity on the energy flux, temperature distribution, and electromagnetic spectrum of the disk. It is shown that with the increases of the parameter $\alpha$, the energy flux, temperature distribution, and electromagnetic spectrum of the accretion disk all increase. Besides, we also show that the accretion efficiency increases as the growth of the parameter $\alpha$. Our results indicate that the thin accretion disk around the static spherically symmetric black hole in the 4EGB gravity is hotter, more luminosity, and more efficient than that around a Schwarzschild black hole with the same mass for a positive $\alpha$, while it is cooler, less luminosity, and less efficient for a negative $\alpha$.