Abstract

In the standard asymptotic expansion of four-dimensional static asymptotically flat spacetimes, the coefficient of the first subleading term of the lapse function can be identified with the mass of the spacetime. Using the Hamiltonian formalism we show that, in asymptotically locally anti–de Sitter spacetimes endowed with a scalar field, the mass can read off in the same way only when the boundary conditions are compatible with the asymptotic realization of the anti–de Sitter symmetry. Since the mass is determined only by the spatial metric and the scalar field, the above effect appears by considering not only the constraints, but also the dynamic field equations, which relate the spatial metric with the lapse function. In particular, this result implies that some prescriptions for computing the mass of a hairy spacetime are not suitable when the scalar field breaks the asymptotic anti–de Sitter invariance.