Scalar hairy black holes and solitons in asymptotically flat spacetimes

A numerical analysis shows that the Einstein field equations allow static and spherically symmetric black hole solutions with scalar-field hair in asymptotically flat spacetimes. When regularity at the origin is imposed (i.e., in the absence of a horizon) globally regular scalar solitons are found. The asymptotically flat solutions are obtained provided that the scalar potential V(phi) of the theory is not positive semidefinite and such that its local minimum is also a zero of the potential, the scalar field settling asymptotically at that minimum. The configurations, although unstable under spherically symmetric linear perturbations, are regular and thus can serve as counterexamples to the no-scalar-hair conjecture.