More about stable wormholes in beyond Horndeski theory

Abstract: It is known that Horndeski theories, like many other scalar-tensor gravities, do not support static, spherically symmetric wormholes: they always have either ghosts or gradient instabilities among parity-even linearized perturbations. Here we address the issue of whether or not this no-go theorem is valid in "beyond Horndeski" theories. We derive, in the latter class of theories, the conditions for the absence of ghost and gradient instabilities for non-spherical parity even perturbations propagating in the radial direction. We find, in agreement with existing arguments, that the proof of the above no-go theorem does not go through beyond Horndeski. We also obtain conditions ensuring the absence of ghosts and gradient instabilities for all parity odd modes. We give an example of beyond Horndeski Lagrangian which admits a wormhole solution obeying our (incomplete set of) stability conditions. Even though our stability analysis is incomplete, as we do not consider spherically symmetric parity even modes and parity even perturbations propagating in angular directions, as well as "slow" tachyonic instabilities, our findings indicate that beyond Horndeski theories may be viable candidates to support traversable wormholes.