Related papers: A Dynamical Weak Scale from Inflation
The relaxation mechanism, which solves the electroweak hierarchy problem without relying on TeV scale new physics, crucially depends on how a Higgs-dependent back-reaction potential is generated. In this paper, we suggest a new scenario in…
We consider the extension of the Standard Model (SM) with a light inflaton where both unitarity problem in Higgs inflation and vacuum instability problem are resolved. The linear non-minimal coupling of the inflaton to gravity leads to a…
We propose a framework in which Weinberg's anthropic explanation of the cosmological constant problem also solves the hierarchy problem. The weak scale is selected by chiral dynamics that controls the stabilization of an extra dimension.…
We propose a novel explanation for the smallness of the observed cosmological constant (CC). Regions of space with a large CC are short lived and are dynamically driven to crunch soon after the end of inflation. Conversely, regions with a…
We propose a technically natural scenario whereby an initially large cosmological constant (c.c.) is relaxed down to the observed value due to the dynamics of a scalar evolving on a very shallow potential. The model crucially relies on a…
We investigate the inflation and reheating phenomenology in scalar-Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory of gravity where a scalar field non-minimally couples with the Gauss-Bonnet (GB) curvature term. Regarding the inflationary phenomenology, we…
We consider the effect of a period of inflation with a high energy density upon the stability of the Higgs potential in the early universe. The recent measurement of a large tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r_T \sim 0.16$, by the BICEP-2 experiment…
We argue that the Standard Model (SM) in the Higgs phase does not suffer from a "hierarchy problem" and that similarly the "cosmological constant problem" resolves itself if we understand the SM as a low energy effective theory emerging…
We reconsider the fine-tuning problem of scalar-driven inflation arising from the need to couple the inflaton to ordinary matter in order to make reheating efficient. Quantum fluctuations of this matter induce Coleman-Weinberg corrections…
The issue of electroweak vacuum stability is studied in presence of a scalar field which participates in modifying the minimal chaotic inflation model. It is shown that the threshold effect on the Higgs quartic coupling originating from the…
The observational constraints on the primordial power spectrum have tightened considerably with the release of the first year analysis of the WMAP observations, especially when combined with the results from other CMB experiments and galaxy…
The dark axion portal is a coupling of an axion-like particle to a dark photon kinetically mixed with the visible photon. We show how this portal, when applied to the relaxion, can lead to cosmological relaxation of the weak scale using…
We consider the possibility of an oscillating scalar field accounting for dark matter and dynamically controlling the spontaneous breaking of the electroweak symmetry through a Higgs-portal coupling. This requires a late decay of the…
To solve the hierarchy problem, the relaxion must remain trapped in the correct minimum, even if the electroweak symmetry is restored after reheating. In this scenario, the relaxion starts rolling again until the backreaction potential,…
We introduce the cosmic holographic bounds with two UV and IR cutoff scales, to deal with both the inflationary universe in the past and dark energy in the future. To describe quantum fluctuations of inflation on sub-horizon scales, we use…
The observed dark energy in the universe might give particles inertial mass. We investigate one realization of this idea, that the dark energy field might be a decayed scalar component of a supermultiplet field in the early universe that…
Recently Graham, Kaplan and Rajendran [1] proposed cosmological relaxation as a mechanism for generating a hierarchically small Higgs vacuum expectation value. Inspired by this we collect some thoughts on steps towards a solution to the…
We study the post-inflationary dynamics of the Standard Model Higgs and a real singlet scalar $s$, coupled together through a renormalizable coupling $\lambda_{sh}h^2s^2$, in a $Z_2$ symmetric model that may explain the observed dark matter…
We investigate a class of models of topological inflation in which a super-Hubble-sized global monopole seeds inflation. These models are attractive since inflation starts from rather generic initial conditions, but their not so attractive…
Motivated by the stability of the electroweak Higgs vacuum we consider the possibility that the Standard Model might work up to large scales between about $10^{10}$ GeV and close to the Planck scale. A plausible scenario is an emergent…