Calmet, Xavier, Kuntz, Iberê and Moss, Ian G (2018) Non-minimal coupling of the Higgs boson to curvature in an inflationary universe. Foundations of Physics, 48 (1). pp. 110-120. ISSN 0015-9018

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Abstract

In the absence of new physics around 10^10 GeV, the electroweak vacuum is at best metastable. This represents a major challenge for high scale in ationary models as, during the early rapid expansion of the universe, it seems difficult to understand how the Higgs vacuum would not decay to the true lower vacuum of the theory with catas- trophic consequences if inflation took place at a scale above 10^10 GeV. In this paper we show that the non-minimal coupling of the Higgs boson to curvature could solve this problem by generating a direct coupling of the Higgs boson to the inflationary potential thereby stabilizing the electroweak vacuum. For specific values of the Higgs field initial condition and of its non-minimal coupling, inflation can drive the Higgs field to the electroweak vacuum quickly during inflation.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences > Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics
Depositing User:	Billy Wichaidit
Date Deposited:	20 Dec 2017 16:32
Last Modified:	02 Jul 2019 16:31
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/72399

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