Beyond Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetimes: III. A perturbative vacuum with non-constant scalar curvature in $R+R^2$ gravity

Abstract: In violation of the generalized Lichnerowicz theorem advocated by Nelson and others, quadratic gravity admits vacua with non-constant scalar curvature. In a recent publication [Phys. Rev. D 106, 104004 (2022)], we revitalized a program that Buchdahl originated but prematurely abandoned circa 1962 [Nuovo Cimento 23, 141 (1962)], and uncovered a novel exhaustive class of static spherically symmetric vacua for pure $R^2$ gravity. The Buchdahl-inspired metrics we obtained therein are exact solutions which exhibit non-constant scalar curvature. A product of fourth-order gravity, the metrics entail a new (Buchdahl) parameter $k$ which allows the Ricci scalar to vary on the manifold. The metrics are able to defeat the generalized Lichnerowicz theorem by evading an overly strong restriction on the asymptotic falloff in the Ricci scalar as assumed in the theorem. The Buchdahl parameter $k$ is a new characteristic of pure $R^2$ gravity, a higher-derivative theory. By venturing that the Buchdahl parameter should be a universal hallmark of higher-derivative gravity at large, in this paper we seek to extend the concept to the quadratic action $R^2+\gamma\,(R-2\Lambda)$. We are able to determine that the quadratic field equation admits a perturbative vacuo that is valid up to the order $O(k^2)$. Conforming with our guiding intuition, the Ricci scalar is non-constant, including the asymptotically flat case, as long as $k\neq0$ and $\gamma\neq0$. The existence of such an asymptotically flat vacuo with non-constant scalar curvature defeats the generalized Lichnerowicz theorem in its entirety. Our finding thus warrants restoring the $R^2$ term in the full quadratic action, $\gamma\,R+\beta\,R^2-\alpha\,C^{\mu\nu\rho\sigma}C_{\mu\nu\rho\sigma}$, when applying the L\"u-Perkins-Pope-Stelle ansatz. Implications to the L\"u-Perkins-Pope-Stelle solution are discussed herein.