A first-order formulation of f(R) gravity in spherical symmetry

Abstract

We develop an augmented characteristic, first-order formulation of the field equations in f(R) gravity governing the global evolution of a (possibly) massive scalar field phi under spherical symmetry. This formulation is designed to isolate the genuine dynamical degrees of freedom while preserving the geometric structure of the theory. By treating the spacetime scalar curvature as an independent unknown, we obtain a closed first-order nonlocal system for the pair (phi,R). This augmentation eliminates the higher-derivative character of the original equations at the level of the principal part. Our formulation allows us to pose the characteristic initial value problem and to establish several structural properties of solutions. More precisely, we work in generalized Bondi-Sachs coordinates and prescribe initial data on an asymptotically flat, future light cone with vertex at the center of symmetry, and we identify the minimal regularity conditions required at the center. These regularity conditions are shown to be precisely those ensuring equivalence between the reduced system and the full f(R) equations. Extending Christodoulou's method for the Einstein-scalar-field system, we recast the f(R) field equations as an integro-differential system of two coupled, first-order, nonlocal, nonlinear hyperbolic equations, whose principal unknowns are the scalar field and the spacetime scalar curvature.