Stationary Configurations Imply Shift Symmetry: No Bondi Accretion for Quintessence / k-Essence

Abstract

In this paper we show that, for general scalar fields, stationary configurations are possible for shift symmetric theories only. This symmetry with respect to constant translations in field space should either be manifest in the original field variables or reveal itself after an appropriate field redefinition. In particular this result implies that neither k-Essence nor Quintessence can have exact steady state / Bondi accretion onto Black Holes. We also discuss the role of field redefinitions in k-Essence theories. Here we study the transformation properties of observables and other variables in k-Essence and emphasize which of them are covariant under field redefinitions. Finally we find that stationary field configurations are necessarily linear in Killing time, provided that shift symmetry is realized in terms of these field variables.