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arXiv · 2011.03763

Vacuum decay constraints on the Higgs curvature coupling from inflation

Andreas Mantziris·Tommi Markkanen·Arttu Rajantie
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Abstract

We derive lower bounds for the Higgs-curvature coupling from vacuum stability during inflation in three inflationary models: quadratic and quartic chaotic inflation, and Starobinsky-like power-law inflation. In contrast to most previous studies we take the time-dependence of the Hubble rate into account both in the geometry of our past light-cone and in the Higgs effective potential, which is approximated with three-loop renormalisation group improvement supplemented with one-loop curvature corrections. We find that in all three models, the lower bound is $\xi\gtrsim 0.051\ldots 0.066$ depending on the top quark mass. We also demonstrate that vacuum decay is most likely to happen a few $e$-foldings before the end of inflation.

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Andreas Mantziris, Tommi Markkanen, Arttu Rajantie. 2020-11-07. Vacuum decay constraints on the Higgs curvature coupling from inflation. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2021/03/077

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