Connecting quasi-normal modes with causality in Lovelock theories of gravity

Abstract: The eikonal correspondence between the quasi-normal modes (QNMs) of asymptotically flat static spherically symmetric black holes and the properties of unstable null circular geodesics is studied in the case of higher dimensional Lovelock black holes (BHs). It is known that such correspondence does not generically hold for gravitational QNMs associated with BHs in Lovelock theories. In the present work, we revisit this correspondence and establish the relationship between the eikonal QNMs and the causal properties of the gravitational field equations in Lovelock theories of gravity.