HYM-flation: Yang-Mills cosmology with Horndeski coupling

Abstract

We propose new mechanism for inflation using classical SU(2) Yang-Mills (YM) homogeneous and isotropic field non-minimally coupled to gravity via Horndeski prescription. This is the unique generally and gauge covariant ghost-free YM theory with the curvature-dependent action leading to second-order gravity and Yang-Mills field equations. We show that its solution space contains de Sitter boundary to which the trajectories are attracted for some finite time, ensuring the robust inflation with a graceful exit. The theory can be generalized to include the Higgs field leading to two-steps inflationary scenario, in which the Planck-scale YM-generated inflation naturally prepares the desired initial conditions for the GUT-scale Higgs inflation.

13 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (12)

• The Standard Model Higgs boson as the inflaton
• The Unity of Cosmological Attractors
• Higgs inflation still alive
• Inflationary cosmology and the late-time accelerated expansion of the universe in non-minimal Yang-Mills-$F(R)$ gravity and non-minimal vector-$F(R)$ gravity
• Cosmological Attractors and Initial Conditions for Inflation
• Higgs inflation from Standard Model criticality
• Dark energy as a fixed point of the Einstein Yang-Mills Higgs Equations
• Effective metrics in the non-minimal Einstein-Yang-Mills-Higgs theory
• Cosmological consequences of classical flavor-space locked gauge field radiation
• Chiral Imprint of a Cosmic Gauge Field on Primordial Gravitational Waves
• Nonminimal isotropic cosmological model with Yang-Mills and Higgs fields
• Early and Late-time Cosmic Acceleration in Non-minimal Yang-Mills-$f(G)$ Gravity

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Horizon-scale tests of gravity theories and fundamental physics from the Event Horizon Telescope image of Sagittarius A${}^{\ast }$
• A systematic approach to generalisations of General Relativity and their cosmological implications
• Constant-Roll (Quasi-)Linear Inflation
• Generalized SU(2) Proca Theory
• Higgsed Gauge-flation
• Non-Abelian $S$-term dark energy and inflation
• Scalar and vector Galileons
• Constant-roll inflation in the generalized SU(2) Proca theory
• Non-trivial gravitational waves and structure formation phenomenology from dark energy
• Instabilities in Horndeski Yang-Mills inflation
• Bounds on the Horndeski Gauge-Gravity Coupling
• Inflation driven by massive vector fields with derivative self-interactions
• Comparing metric and Palatini approaches to vector Horndeski theory
• Magnetic and Electric Black Holes in the Vector-Tensor Horndeski Theory
• Inflation with mixed helicities and its observational imprint on CMB