A holographic c-theorem for higher derivative gravity

Abstract

We prove a holographic c-theorem for the a central charge in AdS/CFT where the bulk is described by a gravitational action built out of an arbitrary function f(R^{ab}_{cd}) of the Riemann tensor coupled to bulk matter. This theorem holds provided a generalized null energy condition involving both matter and higher curvature gravitational interactions is satisfied. As an example, we consider the case of a curvature-squared action, and find that generically the generalized null energy condition involves not just the bulk matter, but also the sign of R" where a prime denotes a radial derivative and where R is the bulk scalar curvature.