M ar 2 00 3 Non - Existence of Black Holes in Certain Λ < 0 Spacetimes

Assuming certain asymptotic conditions, we prove a general theorem on the non-existence of static regular black holes in spacetimes with a negative cosmological constant, given that the fundamental group of space is infinite. We use this to rule out the existence of regular negative mass AdS black holes with Ricci flat scri. For any mass, we also rule out a class of conformally compactifiable static black holes whose conformal infinity has positive scalar curvature and infinite fundamental group, subject to our asymptotic conditions. In a limited, but important, special case our result adds new support to the AdS/CFT inspired positive mass conjecture of Horowitz and Myers.