Spherical gravitational collapse in 5D Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity

Abstract

We consider a spherical gravitational collapse of inhomogeneous dust (and null dust) in Einstein gravity with the Gauss-Bonnet (GB) combination of quadratic curvature terms. It turns out that the presence of the coupling constant of the GB terms $\alpha > 0$ completely changes the causal structure of the singularities from the analogous general relativistic case. The gravitational collapse of inhomogeneous dust in the five-dimensional GB extended Einstein equations leads to formation of a massive, but weak, timelike singularity which is forbidden in general relativity. The apparent horizons of two different collapsing solutions show interesting mathematical similarity.