Abstract
Finding spherically symmetric exact solutions in modified gravity is usually a difficult task. In this paper, we use Noether symmetry approach for a modified teleparallel theory of gravity labeled as  gravity where T is the scalar torsion and B the boundary term. Using Noether theorem, we were able to find exact spherically symmetric solutions for different forms of the function  coming from Noether symmetries.
    1. Introduction
General Relativity (GR) is a very successful theory but it has some shortcomings such as explaining and describing dark energy and dark matter [,]. Both the cosmological constant problem [] and the growing tension between the measure of the Hubble constant  using direct and indirect measurements [,,], have increased the popularity of studying possible viable modifications of General Relativity and also the CDM model. The recent discovery of the gravitational waves [] and also the first image of the shadow of a supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy M87 [], have also increased the possibility of studying how gravity behaves under a strong regime. This effect might be also used to test GR and to see possible effects that might arise in modified gravity.
There are several modified theories of gravity, for some reviews, see [,,,]. The theory that we are interested in this paper is related to the so-called teleparallel theories of gravity. In this framework, the torsion tensor is related to the gravitational field strength while the curvature tensor is zero []. The teleparallel equivalent of General Relativity is a specific theory in this framework that has the same equations as GR. One can then modify this theory and in recent years, different modified teleparallel theories of gravity have been formulated and studied. One popular example is  gravity where T is the scalar torsion [,]. There are several works about this theory in different contexts such as cosmology [,,,], gravitational waves and astrophysics [,,,,,,,]. There are few works in this theory regarding vacuum spherically symmetric solutions. The first solutions were found using perturbation theory [,]. In a recent paper, more general perturbed spherically symmetric solutions were found []. Still, there are few exact spherically symmetric solutions in modified teleparallel gravity. Different authors have studied stars and wormholes in different teleparallel theories [,,,,]. In [,], the authors found some vacuum exact solutions in  gravity; however, they imposed , which is nothing but consider GR plus a cosmological constant. Still, there is a long route for finding new interesting exact solutions in modified teleparallel theory.
In this paper, we study a generalize version of  gravity where now the boundary term B that connects the scalar torsion T with the Ricci scalar  is considered. This theory is called  gravity and resembles certain similitude with  gravity []. In [,] the authors found that there is one extra gravitational polarization mode in this theory, as in  gravity. It has been found that  cosmology can explain dark energy without evoking a cosmological constant and also that this theory can describe a transition from a matter dominated era to two different accelerated eras, one of which describes a de Sitter universe [,,].
Our main aim is to find exact spherically symmetric solutions in  gravity. One powerful tool that is useful for this is the so-called Noether symmetry approach []. One can use this method to obtain conserved quantities asking for the symmetries of the Lagrangian. The existence of some kinds of symmetry for the Euler-Lagrange equations of motion possessing a Lagrangian would immediately be connected with Noether symmetry. Noether symmetries are capable of selecting suitable gravity theory and then to integrate dynamics by using the first integrals corresponding to Noether symmetries []. A consequent process regarding the first integrals due to Noether symmetries allows achieving exact solutions to the dynamical equations for the gravity theory. This theorem has been widely used in different contexts of modified gravity for obtaining exact solutions [,,,,,,,,,,,,]. Our main aim is to use Noether symmetry approach to select the form of f and then use the conserved charges to be able to solve the field equations and then obtain exact spherically symmetric solutions.
In Section 2 we give a brief introduction to teleparallel gravity and more specifically to  gravity, and then, we find the corresponding spherically symmetric equations in this theory. Section 3 is devoted to finding the point-like Lagrangian for the minisuperspace of a spherically symmetric spacetime. Section 4 is the most important section where we use Noether symmetry approach for our study case and find new exact solutions. Finally, we conclude our main results in Section 5. The notation of our paper is the following: Latin indices refer to the tangent space indices and Greek indices to the spacetime indices. The metric signature used is .
2. Gravity and Spherical Symmetry
Teleparallel gravity is an alternative framework of gravity where the manifold is globally flat and the torsion tensor is the responsible for the gravitational effects [,,]. The fundamental variable in this framework is the tetrad fields  that are the linear basis on the spacetime manifold, and at each point of the spacetime, gives us basis for vectors on the tangent space. The metric and its inverse can be reconstructed using the following relationships,
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      where  is the Minwkoski metric and  denotes the inverse of the tetrad.
Within this framework, there exists an equivalent version of General Relativity (GR) containing the same Einstein’s field equations labeled as the Teleparallel equivalent of General Relativity (TEGR). This theory is constructed from the action []
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      where ,  is the determinant of the tetrad and T is the scalar torsion which is constructed from a contraction of the torsion tensor  (where  is the spin connection), namely
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      with  being the torsion vector. The scalar torsion is directly connected to the curvature scalar computed with the Levi–Civita as [,]
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      Here, B is a boundary term, so that it is clear that the action (2) differs only by a boundary term to the Einstein Hilbert action and then, TEGR give rise to the standard Einstein’s field equations.
Even though TEGR has the same equations as GR, there are other teleparallel theories that have different field equations to GR and modified GR. One of the most promising theories in this framework is the so-called  theory where T is replaced by an arbitrary function in the action (2) [,]. A further generalization of this theory also incorporates the boundary term by considering the action []
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      which contains both  gravity and  gravity. This theory is a 4th order theory for the tetrad fields and since T and B are invariant under local Lorentz transformations, the above theory is also invariant under local Lorentz transformations.
Let us now start with a spherically symmetric metric in spherical coordinates given by
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      where  and  are functions of the radial coordinate r, and . One tetrad which reconstructs the metric via (6) is the following
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      The torsion tensor depends on both the tetrads and the spin connection, but the latter is a pure gauge term that is only related to the inertial effects. It has been shown that the above tetrad is compatible with a zero-spin connection [,]. The torsion scalar and boundary terms for the above tetrad are given by
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      Here primes denote differentiation with respect to the radial coordinate. Clearly, this tetrad also gives the correct Minkowski limit () for the above scalars . It is important to remark that it is equivalent to consider the tetrad (7) with a zero-spin connection to consider a diagonal tetrad with a non-zero-spin connection as in [].
As expected, by subtracting the above equations, one recovers the standard scalar curvature computed with the Levi–Civita connection,
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      By varying the  action with respect to the tetrads, one gets the following field equations in vacuum []
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      where , ,  and  is the superpotential. By replacing the tetrad (7) into the above field equations, we find that the vacuum spherically symmetric field equations in  gravity are given by
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      Our aim is to use Noether symmetry approach to get some exact solutions for the above system of partial differential equations. In the next section, we will find the point-like Lagrangian which is an ingredient needed for this purpose.
3. The Point-Like Lagrangian
To find the point-like Lagrangian in terms of the configuration space variables  and B, we use the Lagrange multiplier method, and write the canonical action of  gravity as follows
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      where  and  are the Lagrangian multipliers,  and  are, respectively, the torsion scalar and the boundary term given in (8) and (9). The Lagrange multipliers  and  are obtained by varying the action (16) with respect to T and B, respectively. By doing this, one gets  and . Then the  gravity action for the tetrad (7) becomes
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      Therefore, after discarding divergence terms by integrating by parts, the point-like Lagrangian can be expressed as follows
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      where . Because of the absence of the generalized velocity  in the point-like Lagrangian (18), the Hessian determinant of this Lagrangian vanishes, as it should be. By varying the point-like Lagrangian density (18) with respect to  and M, we find respectively
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      and
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      Then, variations with respect to T and B yield
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      which shows a symmetry in the variables T and B. As is usually done in cosmology, one can also rewrite the field equations in a different form by assuming that the new contributions coming from modified  are related to a fluid with a pressure and energy density. Assuming , one can rewrite Equations (19)–(21) as
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      and
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      where  and  are defined as
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      which are the torsion and the boundary term contributions to energy density and pressure. Clearly, if we neglect all contributions from , i.e., , from Equations (24) and (25) we find that  which is the Schwarzschild solution in General Relativity. Based on the field Equations (24)–(26), we can derive the conservation equation. Here we follow the well-known derivation of the conservation equation in General Relativity. By differentiating (25), one gets
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      Then, the combination  can be obtained from the field Equations (24) and (25), namely
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      which yields from the Equation (29) that
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      Thus, the field Equation (26) allows us to write the latter equation as
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      Remembering here that the ordinary matter is not included in the field equations, i.e., . Therefore, we are not expecting that the conservation Equation (31) or (32) due to the dark sector of the universe has the usual form.
The energy function associated with the Lagrangian , which is known as the Hamiltonian of the system, is defined by
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      where  are generalized coordinates for the Lagrangian density (18) of the  theory of gravity. Then, computations show that  vanishes, because of Equation (20) due to the variation with respect to b. The equation  can be explicitly solved in terms of b as a function of the remaining generalized coordinates, yielding
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      The next section will be devoted to using Noether symmetry approach to get exact solutions for different forms of .
4. Noether Symmetry Approach and Exact Solutions
In this study, we consider Noether symmetry generator which has the form
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      where , are the generalized coordinates in the 5-dimensional configuration space  of the Lagrangian, whose tangent space is . The existence of a Noether symmetry implies the existence of a vector field  given in (35) if the Lagrangian  satisfies the condition
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      where  is the first prolongation of the generator (35) in such a form
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      Here,  is a gauge function, and  is the total derivative operator with respect to r, defined by . The significance of a Noether symmetry comes from the first integral of motion. If  is Noether symmetry generator corresponding to the Lagrangian , then a conserved quantity associated with the generator  is
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      where I is a constant of motion.
Noether symmetry condition (36) for the point-like Lagrangian (18) gives an over-determined system of 34 partial differential equations. They are shown in the appendix for completeness (see Appendix A). These differential equations will fix the form of the vector  as well as the form of . Depending on the function , it is possible to study several different branches, such that
      
- Case 1: ().
- Case 2: ().
- Case 3: ().
- Case 4: (general case).
      Then, a Noether symmetry exists if at least one of the coefficients  and  is different from zero. We summarize them in each of the mentioned cases such as the following. For any case, we have Noether symmetry
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      where  is an arbitrary function of r. Using (38), this Noether symmetry yields the energy conservation relation  if . In the following, we will split the study for all the cases mentioned above.
4.1. Case 1: ()
In this case, we assume the condition  giving
        
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
        By using this condition into Noether Equation (A1), we find that the only possible solutions for f which satisfy Noether conditions are given by:
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
        where n and m are real numbers. Depending on the parameters, we can find different Noether vectors and different solutions.
4.1.1. Subcase: —General Relativity ()
For this subcase we find four Noether symmetries such as , and
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Then, the corresponding Noether constants become
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          and  due to . After solving the above first integrals, we obtain that
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where . This solution becomes the Schwarzschild solution for .
4.1.2. Subcase: —Power-Law Gravity (n Arbitrary and )
In the case where n is arbitrary and , the boundary term does not affect the field equations since B appears linearly in the action, i.e., . Thus, this subcase corresponds to a power-law  gravity. For these theories, the field Equations (24) and  (25) have the same form, and the field Equation (26) becomes
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          together with
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          which yields
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Furthermore, Equation (32) for this case becomes
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Thus, by combining Equations (49) and (50), we obtain
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          If we assume a barotropic equation of state , then Equation (51) reduces to the Abel differential equation of second kind for .
Noether symmetries for this case are  and
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          The corresponding Noether first integrals give
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          There are two equations in (53), but there are four unknowns  and T. Using the definition of T (see Equation (8)) in the first equation of (53) yields in
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Then, we can consider the latter equation to generate solutions by choosing the form of M, and this choice reduces the number of unknowns to two, a and b. Without losing generality, we can choose . Then Equation (54) becomes
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Also, the second equation in (53) has the form
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          and T becomes
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Then, we immediately found the following solution
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          for , which is obviously the Schwarzschild solution with  and  theory (GR case). For  and , the following exact solution appears when ,
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where  is an integration constant of dimension length, k is a dimensionless constant,  and  are as follows
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          The above solution is similar to the one found in [], where the solution is given by the Equation (4.20) of []. However, our solution is most general in the sense that  here. Inspiring by some values for the equation of state parameter  in the ordinary matter such as  for stiff fluid and  for the radiation, one can make a connection between  and the dark sector of the universe. It is interesting to note that the equation of state parameter  is a constant, and the power n of T has real values for  and , which means that  give rise to imaginary values of n. Also, it is not possible to get  due to the restrictions on n. We point out that  (the dark stiff fluid) if , and  (the dark radiation) if .
Furthermore, by assuming , we can directly find the form of  by solving Equation (55), which gives us
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Then, the explicit form of  depends on  that in principle, one can find from Equation (56), giving us the following differential equation,
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Now, we have one differential equation for one variable . The problem of finding solutions, is that this differential equation for  cannot be solved easily.
4.1.3. Subcase: —Power-Law Gravity ()
For the subcase , the field Equations (19)–(21) are reduced to
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          It is easy to see from the above equations that the boundary term B does not contribute to the field equations for . Then, using (64) and taking , we can find from the field Equations (65) and (66) that
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Thus, Equation (67) gives  after choosing M for . For , we find the following five Noether symmetries such that  and
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          which give rise to the following first integrals of motion
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where  is an integration function. First, it follows from (75) and (77) that  is a constant (). Then, we find from the above first integrals that
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where  is defined by . Now, by considering the relation (81) in the definition of the boundary term B given by (9), we find
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          for . Then, using the relations (79)–(81), we also find that
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          By comparing (82) and (83), it is explicitly seen that the boundary term B obtained from the definition does not coincide with the one getting from Equations (79)–(81). To show this contradiction between the statements of B, let us give an example in isotropic coordinates, i.e., we take  which yields  from (67), where  is an integration constant. Then, Equation (81) becomes
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where  is an integration constant. Furthermore, from Equation (80) we find that
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Putting those of the results into the field Equations (64)–(66), all of them are satisfied under the condition , which gives that
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          However, the definition of the boundary term B given by (9) yields
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Here we have explicitly exposed a contradiction between the statements of B. Therefore, we conclude that there is only one consistent interpretation for this case that it should be , and there is no solution for . Let us clarify this here. We cannot argue that there are no exact solutions for this model but instead, we can say that using Noether symmetry approach, one cannot find solutions.
If , then Noether symmetry  is the only one which is different, with the form
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          and the first integral related with  is
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          The remaining Noether symmetries are the same as  and  together with the first integrals (73), (74), (75) and (77), but with . After some algebra, we have also determined a contradiction between the statements of B for , which means that there is no any consistent solution using Noether integrals in this case.
4.1.4. Subcase: ()
For this case, there are again two Noether symmetries,  and
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          The first integrals for  and  give the following relations
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
Considering the definition of T in Equation (91), we find
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Now, we take , which simplifies the above first integrals to
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Here, the field Equations (24)–(26) have the following form
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          and
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where  and  become
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          For this case, we can get a solution of the field equations when , which is
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where  is an integration constant and k is a constant. This solution has the following extra relationship between the parameters,
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where  are constant parameters. Then, the quantities  and  for the above solution are
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where  and  have the following form
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          For this case, the equation of state  becomes
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
4.2. Case 2: ()
When one considers the condition , there are several subcases with different Noether symmetries. In the following, we will study them separately.
4.2.1. Subcase: ( and )
As it happened before, the case  is a special case where the boundary term does not affect the field equations since only appears linearly. Then, this subcase is identical as choosing . This theory admits Noether symmetries  and
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          and the corresponding first integrals are
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where . For  and after considering the definition of T, the above first integrals become
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          In this case, it is difficult to find solutions using Noether symmetry approach. Moreover, even for the case when  and , there are no solutions.
4.2.2. Subcase: ( and )
In this case, Noether symmetries are  and
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          which can be used with the first integrals to get the following two equations,
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          By using the definition of T and inserting  in (116) and (117), we obtain that
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          If , Equations (118) and (119) take the following forms
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Similarly as the previous case, it is also hard to get exact solutions for this case and there are no solutions for the case  and .
4.2.3. Subcase: ( and )
For this case, Noether symmetries are  and
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          which have the first integral
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Now, assuming  in the above first integrals, we have
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Here, the field Equations (24) and (25) have the same form as (96) and (97), respectively, in which  and  are given by
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          The third field equation (which is a combination of the other two) given in (26) has the following form
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          For , we found the following solution
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where  is an integration constant, and the parameters must have the following form:
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where . For the solution (130),  and  become
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          in which the latter  and  require that the equation of state has the form
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
4.3. Case 3: ()
By imposing , the function  found from Noether symmetry equations (see Equation (A1)) takes the form
        
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
        where we can have two non-trivial functions that will be study separately.
4.3.1. Subcase: ( and )
In this subcase, it is found that Noether symmetries are  and
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Hence the first integrals due to  and  are, respectively,
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Considering the  case, the above first integrals reduce to
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          When , we obtained the following solution
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where  is an integration constant, and there the parameters must be
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          For the solution (142), ,  and  become
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          which gives the equation of state  as:
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
4.3.2. Subcase: ( and )
Here there exists two Noether symmetries,  and
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          which have the first integrals
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Using the definition of T in (149) yields
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Again, we restrict the analysis to the  case. Then, the above Equations (150) and (151) take the forms
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
When , the solution for this case has the form
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where  is an integration constant, and  have the following form
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where . For this solution,  and  have the form
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where  and  are given by
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Here, the equation of state  becomes
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where .
4.4. Case 4:
For this case, we find that Noether symmetry equations gives us that the form of the function , and we can obtain different symmetries depending on the parameters n and m.
4.4.1. Subcase: (n arbitrary, )
In this case, there are again two Noether symmetries  and
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where  is an arbitrary function of  and B. Then, Noether constants for these vector fields are
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          Because of the arbitrariness of  which means that there are infinitely many Noether symmetries, one can choose , without loss of generality. Now, by taking , Equations (162) and (163) become
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          The metric coefficient  can be directly solved If . In this case, by replacing Equation (165) into (164) we find
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          which can be used in Equation (162) to get a third order differential equation for  that is not easy to find solutions. The easiest way to solve this in a non-trivial way is by assuming that  is a power-law. By doing this, one finds that the only non-trivial solution is when  and  and . However, this solution gives , so that this solution is a trivial solution.
4.4.2. Subcase: ()
In this case, we have two Noether symmetries  and
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          which have the constants of motion
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          For , using the definition of T, the above equations reduce to
          
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
          where .
5. Conclusions
In the recent literature [,], some examples where Noether symmetry approach has been used as a geometric criterion to select theories of gravity in which Noether symmetry generator constraints arbitrary functions in the action, and also allows the discovery of exact solutions for the field equations of a given gravity theory due to the conserved quantities, i.e., the first integrals of motion. It is either possible to study spherically symmetry in a gauge where  without setting  and , or study with a generic  and setting the gauge  []. Even though both approaches should give rise to the same physics, the field equations are mathematically different. Since we were interested in finding exact solutions with Noether approach, we chose to work in full generality and in the end, see if it is convenient (for finding solutions) to work in one gauge or the other. In our study, we have found that the gauge  was better than  for this purpose since it is easier to find exact solutions.
In this work, we have studied  gravity which is a modified teleparallel theory of gravity where the manifold is flat but contains torsion. In this theory, T is the torsion scalar and B is the boundary term which is connected with the Ricci scalar as . We have found the admitting Noether symmetries in the background of spherically symmetric spacetime. To write out Noether symmetry equations, we derived the point-like Lagrangian (18), which gives rise to the dynamical field equations varying with respect to the configuration space variables  and M. After solving Noether symmetry equations (in vacuum) and using the first integrals for the appropriate Noether symmetry, we have found some exact spherically symmetric solutions for several forms of the function  in different cases. The exact solutions found are displayed in Table 1. Unfortunately, due to the difficulty of the field equations, we have only found solutions where the metric coefficient  is a constant. In the cases including power laws of the boundary term B, we also observe that there is no solution in which the metric coefficient  is a constant. For all the solutions that we found, if one tries to go to the GR limit, for example in the  case, if one sets , one only gets a trivial metric, i.e.,  or 0 or  or 0. Thus, all these solutions are branching off the Schwarzschild solution and they become different from trivial when the modification of GR is considered.
 
       
    It is important to mention that we have not assumed the form of the function  in any part of the paper. Instead, we have used Noether symmetry Equation (A1) and we have solved these equations for different branches (Case 1 to Case 4) appearing in those equations. These equations depend on  and Noether vector. To find out the form of , we solved the system of 34 partial differential equations admitting a non-zero Noether vector. Thus, Noether symmetry equations select the form of the function  and the form of Noether vector. It is interesting to mention that for example, a power-law  directly appears from these equations, and several  studies have been carried out in this model finding different astrophysical and cosmological features such as the possibility of alleviating the  tension in cosmology [] or the possibility of explaining galaxy rotation curves in astrophysics []. Furthermore, different  power-law forms found in this paper (by symmetries) have been also used (by hand) in other papers such as [,,] for explaining cosmological viable models.
It is still unclear if the solutions found might be astrophysically interesting. One can follow a similar approach as [] and study possible effects such as the photon sphere and perihelion shift of those solutions. Another study that can be done is to analyze the accretion process of these solutions [,]. Still, there is a long route for understanding the possible astrophysical effects of modified teleparallel theories of gravity. It might be interesting to follow a similar approach done in this paper for other teleparallel theories, such as scalar-tensor theories [,,,,,,,,,], non-local theories [] or theories with non-minimally couplings between matter and gravity []. These works will be done in forthcoming studies.
Author Contributions
All authors contributed equally to the present work.
Funding
S.B. is funded by Mobilitas Pluss No. MOBJD423, S.B. is supported by Mobilitas Pluss No. MOBJD423 by the Estonian government.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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