Dimensionally continued Oppenheimer–Snyder gravitational collapse: Solutions in odd dimensions

The Lovelock gravity extends the theory of general relativity to higher dimensions in such a way that the field equations remain of second order. The theory has many constant coefficients with no a priori meaning. Nevertheless, it is possible to reduce them to two: the cosmological constant and Newton’s constant. In this process one separates theories in even dimensions from theories in odd dimensions. In a previous work, gravitational collapse in even dimensions was analyzed. In this work attention is given to odd dimensions. It is found that black holes also emerge as the final state of gravitational collapse of a regular dust fluid.