Related papers: Metastable Electroweak Vacuum: Implications for In…
We compute systematically the probability for fluctuations of the Higgs field, averaged over a given spatial scale, to exceed a specified value, in the Standard Model. For the particular case of interest of averages over one coherence…
Scalar field models of inflation based on a large nonminimal coupling to gravity xi, in particular, Higgs inflation, may violate unitarity at an energy scale ~ M_p / xi << M_p. In this case the model is incomplete at energy scales relevant…
We show that the mechanism of cosmological relaxation of the electroweak scale can take place independently of the inflation mechanism, thus relieving burdens from the original relaxion proposal. What eventually stops the (fast-rolling)…
The discovery of Higgs mechanism within the context of spontaneous symmetry breaking has offered a new perspective on the early time cosmic inflation and also on the relationship between elementary particles and dark energy, believed to…
In the Higgs inflation scenario the Higgs field is strongly coupled to the Ricci scalar in order to drive primordial inflation. However, in its original form in pure metric formulation of gravity, the ultraviolet (UV) cutoff of the Higgs…
We show that the stochastic evolution of an interacting system of the Higgs and a spectator scalar field naturally gives rise to an enhanced probability of settling down at the electroweak vacuum at the end of inflation. Subsequent…
We argue that the Higgs boson of the Standard Model can lead to inflation and produce cosmological perturbations in accordance with observations. An essential requirement is the non-minimal coupling of the Higgs scalar field to gravity; no…
The so-called metastability bound on the Higgs mass suggests that the smallness of the Higgs mass may be a byproduct of the metastability of the electroweak vacuum. A significantly strong bound requires new physics capable of lowering the…
Inflationary cosmology represents a well-studied framework to describe the expansion of space in the early universe, as it explains the origin of the large-scale structure of the cosmos and the isotropy of the cosmic microwave background…
We have investigated a number of GUT models for the possibility that their Higgs fields might be responsible for inflation in the early universe. In addition to models having an intrinsic Planck mass parameter, we have entertained…
We propose a model for combining the Standard Model (SM) with gravity. It relies on a non-minimal coupling of the Higgs field to the Ricci scalar and on the Palatini formulation of gravity. Without introducing any new degrees of freedom in…
We study the augmentation of the Standard Model (SM) with another $SU(2)$ Higgs doublet and right-handed neutrinos. The second Higgs doublet ($\Phi_2$) is defined to be odd under the $Z_2$ symmetry, and hence, the lightest stable neutral…
We introduce conformal coupling of the Standard Model Higgs field to gravity and discuss the subsequent modification of $R^2$-inflation. The main observation is a lower temperature of reheating which happens mostly through scalaron decays…
The discovery of the Higgs by ATLAS and CMS at the LHC not only provided the last missing building block of the electroweak Standard Model, the mass of the Higgs has been found to have a very peculiar value about 126 GeV, which is such that…
Starting with a theory of the discrete space-time at the Planck scale, we developed a Gravi-Weak Unification (GWU) - a $Spin(4,4)$-invariant model unified gravity with weak $SU(2)$ gauge and Higgs fields in the visible and invisible sectors…
It is known that the Higgs potential becomes flat around the Planck scale under the assumption that the Standard Model is valid up to very high scale. Taking this into account, we revisit the Higgs inflation scenario and find that the…
We discuss models where the Higgs boson of the electroweak standard model plays the role of the inflaton. We focus on the question of the violation of perturbative unitarity due to the coupling of the Higgs boson either to the Ricci scalar…
In new Higgs inflation the Higgs kinetic terms are non-minimally coupled to the Einstein tensor, allowing the Higgs field to play the role of the inflaton. The new interaction is non-renormalizable, and the model only describes physics…
We point out that the prediction of the minimal chaotic inflation model is altered if a scalar field takes a large field value close to the Planck scale during inflation due to a negative Hubble induced mass. In particular, we show that the…
We consider the status of Higgs Inflation in light of the recently announced detection of B-modes in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation by the BICEP2 collaboration. In order for the primordial B-mode signal to be…