Topological Higgs inflation: The origin of the Standard Model criticality

Abstract

The measured values of the Higgs and top masses and of the strong gauge coupling constant point to the near-criticality of the Standard Model, where two vacua at the electroweak and Planck scales are quasi-degenerate. We argue that the criticality is required by the occurrence of an eternal topological inflation induced by the Higgs potential. The role of this inflation is to continuously create sufficiently flat and homogeneous Universe, providing the necessary initial condition for the subsequent slow-roll inflation that generates the density perturbations of the right magnitude. While the condition for the topological Higgs inflation is only marginally satisfied in the Standard Model, it can be readily satisfied if one introduces the right-handed neutrinos and/or the non-minimal coupling to gravity; currently unknown quantum gravity corrections to the potential may also help. We also discuss the $B-L$ Higgs inflation as a possible origin of the observed density perturbations. Its necessary initial condition, the restored $B-L$ symmetry, can be naturally realized by the preceding topological Higgs inflation.

13 pages, 2 figures; Version to appear on PRD(v2)

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Cited by in corpus (9)

• The lifetime of the electroweak vacuum and sensitivity to Planck scale physics
• Landau pole in the Standard Model with weakly interacting scalar fields
• Relaxing the Cosmological Moduli Problem by Low-scale Inflation
• Multiple Point Principle of the Standard Model with Scalar Singlet Dark Matter and Right Handed Neutrinos
• Criticality and Inflation of the Gauged B-L Model
• Gravitational waves from Higgs domain walls
• Ultraviolet Sensitivity in Higgs-Starobinsky Inflation
• Multiple Point Principle of the Gauged B-L Model
• Dark matter in minimal dimensional transmutation with multicritical-point principle