Black hole zeroth law in the Horndeski gravity

The four laws of black hole mechanics have been put forward for a long time. However, the zeroth law, which states that the surface gravity of a stationary black hole is a constant on the event horizon, still lacks universal proof in various modified gravitational theories. In this paper, we study the zeroth law in a special Horndeski gravity, which is an interesting gravitational theory with a nonminimally coupled scalar field. After assuming that the nonminimally coupled scalar field has the same symmetries with the spacetime, the minimally coupled matter fields satisfy the dominant energy condition and the Horndeski gravity has a smooth limit to Einstein gravity when the coupling constant approaches zero, we prove the zeroth law based on the gravitational equation in Horndeski gravity without any assumption to the spacetime symmetries.

Automated summary

This paper studies the zeroth law of black hole mechanics in a special Horndeski gravity, demonstrating its validity within this gravitational theory.