Work

The Selfish Higgs

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: We propose a mechanism to solve the Higgs naturalness problem through a cosmological selection process. The discharging of excited field configurations through membrane nucleation leads to discrete jumps of the cosmological constant and the Higgs mass, which vary in a correlated way. The resulting multitude of universes are all empty, except for those in which the cosmological constant and the Higgs mass are both nearly vanishing. Only under these critical conditions can inflation be activated and create a non-empty universe.

Source: Journal of High Energy Physics

DOI: 10.1007/jhep10(2019)199

Authors: G.F. Giudice, A. Kehagias, A. Riotto

Institutions: European Organization for Nuclear Research, National Technical University of Athens, University of Geneva

Language: English

Topic: Cosmology and Gravitation Theories

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: diamond

Funders: National Science Foundation, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Munich Institute for Astro- and Particle Physics

Awards: G5599649393, G628552264, The Non-Gaussian Universe and Cosmological Symmetries