Large primordial non-Gaussianity from transient turns in Higgs-$R^2$ inflation

Abstract

We investigate the generation of primordial non-Gaussianities in multifield Higgs--$R^2$ inflation, focusing on the effects of transient turning trajectories in the hyperbolic field space manifold. We compute the full bispectrum without relying on slow-roll or local approximations and follow the complete superhorizon evolution of curvature and isocurvature perturbations. We show that transient turns efficiently transfer isocurvature fluctuations into the adiabatic sector, generating sizeable local non-Gaussianities. For a benchmark Higgs nonminimal coupling $\xi_h = 0.1$ and quartic coupling $\lambda = 10^{-10}$, we obtain $f_{\rm NL}^{\rm loc}\simeq -17.7$. As the Higgs nonminimal coupling increases, the turning rate is progressively suppressed and the model approaches the effective single-field attractor, recovering the Maldacena consistency relation $f_{\rm NL}\rightarrow 0.0159$. Comparing our predictions with current CMB constraints, we find that primordial non-Gaussianity provides a sensitive probe of the Higgs nonminimal coupling and can significantly restrict the viable parameter space of the model.