Work

The problem with false vacuum Higgs inflation

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: We investigate the possibility of using the only known fundamental scalar, the Higgs, as an inflaton with minimal coupling to gravity. The peculiar appearance of a plateau or a false vacuum in the renormalised effective scalar potential suggests that the Higgs might drive inflation. For the case of a false vacuum we use an additional singlet scalar field, motivated by the strong CP problem, and its coupling to the Higgs to lift the barrier allowing for a graceful exit from inflation by mimicking hybrid inflation. We find that this scenario is incompatible with current measurements of the Higgs mass and the QCD coupling constant and conclude that the Higgs can only be the inflaton in more complicated scenarios.

Source: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2014/06/039

Authors: Malcolm Fairbairn, Philipp Grothaus, Robert Hogan

Institution: King's College London

Language: English

Topic: Cosmology and Gravitation Theories

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,290

Funder: Science and Technology Facilities Council