Vacuum energy in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet anti–de Sitter gravity

A finite action principle for Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet anti--de Sitter gravity is achieved by supplementing the bulk Lagrangian by a suitable boundary term, whose form substantially differs in odd and even dimensions. For even dimensions, this term is given by the boundary contribution in the Euler theorem with a coupling constant fixed, demanding the spacetime to have constant (negative) curvature in the asymptotic region. For odd dimensions, the action is stationary under a boundary condition on the variation of the extrinsic curvature. A well-posed variational principle leads to an appropriate definition of energy and other conserved quantities using the Noether theorem, and to a correct description of black hole thermodynamics. In particular, this procedure assigns a nonzero energy to anti--de Sitter spacetime in all odd dimensions.