Lower bound on the radii of black-hole photonspheres

Abstract: The existence of closed null circular geodesics around black holes is one of the most intriguing predictions of general relativity. It has recently been conjectured that the radii of black-hole photonspheres are bounded from below by the simple relation $r_{\text{ph}}\geq {3\over2}r_{\text{H}}$, where $r_{\text{H}}$ is the radius of the outer black-hole horizon. We here prove the validity of this conjecture for spherically symmetric hairy black-hole configurations whose radial pressure function $P\equiv |r^3p|$ decreases monotonically.