Standard model Higgs field and hidden sector cosmology

Abstract

We consider scenarios where the inflaton field decays dominantly to a hidden dark matter (DM) sector. By studying the typical behavior of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs field during inflation, we derive a relation between the primordial tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and amplitude of the residual DM isocurvature perturbations $\beta$ which is typically generated if the DM is thermally decoupled from the SM sector. We consider different expansion histories and find that if the Universe was radiation- or matter-dominated after inflation, a future discovery of primordial DM isocurvature will rule out all simple scenarios of this type because generating observable $\beta$ from the Higgs is not possible without violating the bounds on $r$. Seen another way, the Higgs field is generically not a threat to models where both the inflaton and DM reside in a decoupled sector. However, this is not necessarily the case for an early kination-dominated epoch, as then the Higgs can source sizeable $\beta$. We also discuss why the Higgs cannot source the observed curvature perturbation at large scales in any of the above cases but how the field can still be the dominant source of curvature perturbations at small scales.

10 pages, 1 figure. v2: Minor corrections, a slight change in title, matches the version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D

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• Lighting the Dark: The Evolution of the Post-Inflationary Universe
• Reconstructing Non-standard Cosmologies with Dark Matter
• WIMPs during Reheating
• Breaking a dark degeneracy: The gamma-ray signature of early matter domination
• Reviving $Z$ and Higgs Mediated Dark Matter Models in Matter Dominated Freeze-out
• Self-interacting dark matter without prejudice
• Formation of inflaton halos after inflation
• Inflaton Clusters and Inflaton Stars
• Constraining Nonthermal Dark Matter's Impact on the Matter Power Spectrum
• Dark Matter Microhalos in the Solar Neighborhood: Pulsar Timing Signatures of Early Matter Domination
• The Secret Higgstory of the Highest Temperature during Reheating
• Spectator dark matter in non-standard cosmologies
• Entropic force between two horizons of dilaton black holes with a power-Maxwell field