https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-10966-x
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Einstein–Maxwell fields as solutions of higher-order theories
Institute of Mathematics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Žitná 25, 115 67, Prague 1, Czech Republic
Received:
27
July
2022
Accepted:
28
October
2022
Published online:
23
November
2022
We study four-dimensional Einstein–Maxwell fields for which any higher-order corrections to the field equations effectively reduces to just a rescaling of the gravitational and the cosmological constant. These configurations are thus simultaneous solutions of (virtually) any modified theory of gravity coupled (possibly non-minimally) to any electrodynamics. In the case of non-null electromagnetic fields we provide a full characterization of such universal solutions, which correspond to a family of gravitational waves propagating in universes of the Levi-Civita–Bertotti–Robinson type. For null fields we first obtain a set of general necessary conditions, and then a full characterization for a special subfamily, which turns out to represent electromagnetic waves accompanied by pure radiation in the (anti-)Nariai background. The results are exemplified for the case of Born–Infeld, ModMax and Horndeski electrodynamics.
© The Author(s) 2022
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