Related papers: Stochastic evolution of scalar fields with continu…
The measured Standard Model parameters lie in a range such that the Higgs potential, once extrapolated up to high scales, develops a minimum of negative energy density. This has important cosmological implications. In particular, during…
A scale-invariant universe can have a period of accelerated expansion at early times: inflation. We use a frame-invariant approach to calculate inflationary observables in a scale invariant theory of gravity involving two scalar fields -…
We investigate the modifications to inflationary observables that arise when adopting an $\alpha$-vacuum instead of the standard Bunch--Davies vacuum for quantum fluctuations during inflation. Within the Starobinsky inflationary model, we…
The physics of the inflationary universe requires the study of the out of equilibrium evolution of quantum fields in curved spacetime. We present the evolution for both the geometry and the matter (described by the quantum inflaton field)…
One of the simplest possible candidates for dark matter is a stable scalar singlet beyond the Standard Model. If its mass is below the Hubble scale during inflation, long-wavelength modes of this scalar will be excited during inflation, and…
We demonstrate that in the presence of a light scalar spectator field, vacuum transitions taking place during inflation can produce large, potentially detectable non-Gaussian signatures in the primordial curvature perturbation. Such…
The Standard Model Higgs potential becomes unstable at large Higgs field values where its quartic coupling becomes negative. While the tunneling lifetime of our current electroweak vacuum is comfortably longer than the age of the universe,…
The properties of the recently discovered Higgs boson together with the absence of new physics at collider experiments allows us to speculate about consistently extending the Standard Model of particle physics all the way up to the Planck…
Theories with ingredients like the Higgs mechanism, gravitons, and inflaton fields rejuvenate the idea that relativistic kinematics is dynamically emergent. Eternal inflation treats the Hubble constant H as depending on location.…
The contribution of scale-dependent vacuum expectation values (VEVs) of Higgs scalars, which gives significant effects in the evolution of fundamental fermion masses in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), is now considered in…
The evolution of two slow--rolling scalar fields with potentials of the form $V=V_0 \phi^{-\alpha}\exp(-\beta \phi^m)$ is studied. Considering different values of the parameters $\alpha$, $\beta$ and $m$, we derive several new inflationary…
The measurements of the Higgs mass and top Yukawa coupling indicate that we live in a very special Universe, at the edge of the absolute stability of the electroweak vacuum. If fully stable, the Standard Model (SM) can be extended all the…
Within General Relativity, a minimally coupled scalar field governed by a quadratic potential is able to produce an accelerated expansion of the universe provided its value and excursion are larger than the Planck scale. This is an…
For a robust interpretation of upcoming observations from PLANCK and LHC experiments it is imperative to understand how the inflationary dynamics of a non-minimally coupled Higgs scalar field with gravity may affect the determination of the…
Symmetry breaking in the Higgs field via a non-minimal coupling to gravity or higher-dimensional interactions with the inflaton can lead to condensation at a large vacuum expectation value (VEV) during inflation. After inflation is over,…
In the standard model the (Brout-Englert-)Higgs quartic coupling becomes negative at high energies rendering our current electroweak vacuum metastable, but with an instability timescale much longer than the age of the Current Universe.…
We consider a possibility that the Higgs field in the Standard Model (SM) serves as an inflaton when its value is around the Planck scale. We assume that the SM is valid up to an ultraviolet cutoff scale \Lambda, which is slightly below the…
We consider the introduction of a complex scalar field carrying a global lepton number charge to the Standard Model and the Higgs inflation framework. The conditions are investigated under which this model can simultaneously ensure Higgs…
The detection of a stochastic Gravitational Wave (GW) background sourced by a cosmological phase transition would allow us to see the early Universe from a completely new perspective, illuminating aspects of Beyond the Standard Model (BSM)…
We discuss that it is quite possible to realize the smooth transition of the universe between a matter/radiation dominated deceleration and a dark energy dominated acceleration, even with a variation of proton-to-electron mass ratio. The…