More on the classical double copy in three spacetime dimensions

It is well known that general relativity in three spacetime dimensions (3D) has no well-defined Newtonian limit. Recently, a static solution mimicking the behavior of the expected Newtonian potential has been found by studying the classical double copy of a point charge in gauge theory [M. Carrillo Gonzlez, B. Melcher, K. Ratliff, S. Watson, and C. D. White, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2019) 167.]. This is the first example where the vacuum solution in the gauge theory leads to a nonvacuum solution on the gravity side. The resulting energy-momentum tensor was attributed to a free scalar ghost field; however, alternatively, the source can be seen as one resulting from a spacelike perfect fluid. In this paper, we first give an alternative derivation of the solution where there is no need to perform a generalized gauge transformation to obtain a quadratic Lagrangian without propagating ghost fields. Then, we present a stationary version of the solution and show that the scalar field interpretation of the source does not survive in this case, leaving the spacelike fluid as the only possibility. We give the gauge theory single copy of our solution and comment on the implications of our results on the validity of the classical double copy in 3D. The effect of the cosmological constant is also discussed.