Black hole spontaneous scalarisation with a positive cosmological constant

A scalar field non-minimally coupled to certain geometric [or matter] invariants which are sourced by [electro]vacuum black holes (BHs) may spontaneously grow around the latter, due to a tachyonic instability. This process is expected to lead to a new, dynamically preferred, equilibrium state: a scalarised BH. The most studied geometric [matter] source term for such spontaneous BH scalarisation is the Gauss-Bonnet quadratic curvature [Maxwell invariant]. This phenomenon has been mostly analysed for asymptotically flat spacetimes. Here we consider the impact of a positive cosmological constant, which introduces a cosmological horizon. The cosmological constant does not change the local conditions on the scalar coupling for a tachyonic instability of the scalar-free BHs to emerge. But it leaves a significant imprint on the possible new scalarised BHs. It is shown that no scalarised BH solutions exist, under a smoothness assumption, if the scalar field is confined between the BH and cosmological horizons. Admitting the scalar field can extend beyond the cosmological horizon, we construct new scalarised BHs. These are asymptotically de Sitter in the (matter) Einstein-Maxwell-scalar model, with only mild difference with respect to their asymptotically flat counterparts. But in the (geometric) extended-scalartensor-Gauss-Bonnet-scalar model, they have necessarily non-standard asymptotics, as the tachyonic instability dominates in the far field. This interpretation is supported by the analysis of a test tachyon on a de Sitter background. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.