Related papers: Attracting the Electroweak Scale to a Tachyonic Tr…
In this work we study one of the most appealing string theory-motivated models, we present a tachyonic inflationary model in the recently proposed symmetric teleparallel framework, and examine constraints on tachyon inflation with the…
It is well known that the electroweak phase transition (EWPhT) in extensions of the Standard Model with one real scalar singlet can be first-order for realistic values of the Higgs mass. We revisit this scenario with the most general…
We investigate conformally extended Standard Model with a hidden scalar $\phi$. It is shown that due to non-perturbative dynamics in the hidden sector, $\phi$ develops a vacuum expectation value (vev) in the form of a mass gap which…
We suggest a clockwork mechanism for a Higgs-like inflation with the non-minimal coupling term $\xi\phi^2 R$. The seemingly unnatural ratio of parameters, $\lambda/\xi^2 \sim 10^{-10}$ of the self quartic coupling of the inflaton,…
We analyse the self-consistency of inflation in the Standard Model, where the Higgs field has a large non-minimal coupling to gravity. We determine the domain of energies in which this model represents a valid effective field theory as a…
A non-minimal coupling xi of the Standard Model Higgs field to gravity can give rise to inflation, but large xi is required and thus leads to a violation of perturbative unitarity at Mp/xi, which is well below the inflationary scale…
We study the inflationary evolution of a scalar field $h$ with an unstable potential for the case where the Hubble parameter $H$ during inflation is larger than the instability scale $\Lambda_I$ of the potential. Quantum fluctuations in the…
We explore the connection between the strength of the electroweak phase transition and the properties of the Higgs boson. Our interest is in regions of parameter space that can realize electroweak baryogenesis. We do so in a simplified…
We introduce an oscillating scalar field coupled to the Higgs that can account for all dark matter in the Universe. Due to an underlying scale invariance of this model, the dark scalar only acquires mass after the electroweak phase…
In this paper we propose two simple minimal Higgs inflation scenarios through a simple modification of the Higgs potential, as opposed to the usual non-minimal Higgs-gravity coupling prescription. The modification is done in such a way that…
The rather precise knowledge of the mass of the Higgs boson and of its couplings has important consequences for the physical phenomena taking place at the Fermi scale. We analyze some of these implications in the most motivated frameworks…
The measured values of the Higgs and top quark masses imply that the Standard Model potential is very likely to be unstable at large Higgs values. This is particularly problematic during inflation, which sources large perturbations of the…
The strength of electroweak symmetry breaking may substantially differ in the early Universe compared to the present day value. In the Standard Model, the Higgs vacuum expectation value (vev) vanishes and electroweak symmetry gets restored…
We study the phenomenology of models of electroweak symmetry breaking where the Higgs potential is dominated by a positive quadratic term destabilized by a tadpole arising from the coupling to an "auxiliary" Higgs sector. The auxiliary…
A new type of scalar potential inspired by unparticles is proposed for the electroweak symmetry breaking. The interaction between the standard model fields and unparticle sector is described by the non-integral power of fields that…
In models of inflation driven by an axion-like pseudoscalar field, the inflaton, a, may couple to the standard model hypercharge via a Chern-Simons-type interaction, $L \subset a/(4\Lambda) F\tilde{F}$. This coupling results in explosive…
We study the generation of electromagnetic fields during inflation when the conformal invariance of Maxwell's action is broken by the kinetic coupling $f^{2}(\phi)F_{\mu\nu}F^{\mu\nu}$ of the electromagnetic field to the inflaton field…
We study inflation driven by a slow-rolling inflaton field, characterised by a quadratic potential, and incorporating radiative corrections within the context of supergravity. In this model the energy scale of inflation is not overly…
We propose a new mechanism to generate the electroweak scale within the framework of QCD, which is extended to include conformally invariant scalar degrees of freedom belonging to a larger irreducible representation of $SU(3)_c$. The…
The spontaneous symmetry breaking for the massless scalar field naturally arises from the framework of the effective theory (the non-minimal coupling of gravity to a scalar field). A magic key ingredient is to add the large vacuum energy…