Cosmological Aspects of Higgs Vacuum Metastability

Markkanen, Tommi; Rajantie, Arttu; Stopyra, Stephen

doi:10.3389/fspas.2018.00040

Cited by 116 publications

(135 citation statements)

References 354 publications

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“…The study of a quantized scalar field in de Sitter space is a mature endeavour [1][2][3][4] possessing well-known difficulties when the field is light [5][6][7][8]. Light spectator scalars in de Sitter space are not just of formal interest, but rather they can have a variety of cosmological implications such as generation of dark matter [9][10][11] or triggering electroweak vacuum decay [12][13][14]. The stochastic approach presented in Refs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scalar correlation functions for a double-well potential in de Sitter space

Markkanen

Rajantie

2020

J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.

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We use the spectral representation of the stochastic Starobinsky-Yokoyama approach to compute correlation functions in de Sitter space for a scalar field with a symmetric or asymmetric double-well potential. The terms in the spectral expansion are determined by the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the time-independent Fokker-Planck differential operator, and we solve them numerically. The long-distance asymptotic behaviour is given by the lowest state in the spectrum, but we demonstrate that the magnitude of the coeffients of different terms can be very different, and the correlator can be dominated by different terms at different distances. This can give rise to potentially observable cosmological signatures. In many cases the dominant states in the expansion do not correspond to small fluctuations around a minimum of the potential and are therefore not visible in perturbation theory. We discuss the physical interpretation these states, which can be present even when the potential has only one minimum.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scalar correlation functions for a double-well potential in de Sitter space

Markkanen

Rajantie

2020

J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.

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“…Attacking this problem fully numerically is an interesting option, but goes beyond the scope of this work. 13 In our simulations this happens less than one e-fold after the time where the full potential crosses zero,…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 69%

“…H E < 0. 13 At each time N of the evolution we compute the number of e-folds N AdS necessary to fall in AdS with initial conditions given by h = h cl (N ). We say that h cl (N ) ∈ AdS if N AdS < N − N , (3.5) where N − N is the number of e-folds left before the end of inflation when the Higgs starts its classical dynamics at the value h cl (N ).…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…it is not the true vacuum but its lifetime is larger than the age of our Universe. 1 As it was phrased in a recent review [13]: a metastable vacuum, by definition, has implications that can only be studied in the context of the cosmological history. Even if today the lifetime of our vacuum is much larger than the age of our Universe, assuming a period of inflation implies that, in the very early Universe, the Higgs (when it is not the inflaton) behaved as a test scalar field in a (quasi) de Sitter background.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Higgs vacuum (in)stability during inflation. The dangerous relevance of de Sitter departure and Planck-suppressed operators

Fumagalli

Renaux‐Petel

Ronayne

2020

J. High Energ. Phys.

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The measured Standard Model parameters lie in a range such that the Higgs potential, once extrapolated up to high scales, develops a minimum of negative energy density. This has important cosmological implications. In particular, during inflation, quantum fluctuations could have pushed the Higgs field beyond its potential barrier, triggering the formation of anti-de Sitter regions, with fatal consequences for our universe. By requiring that this did not happen, one can in principle connect (and constrain) Standard Model parameters with the energy scale of inflation. In this context, we highlight the sensitivity of the fate of our vacuum to seemingly irrelevant physics. In particular, the departure of inflation from an exact de Sitter phase, as well as Planck-suppressed derivative operators, can, already and surprisingly, play a decisive role in (de)stabilizing the Higgs during inflation. Furthermore, in the stochastic dynamics, we quantify the impact of the amplitude of the noise differing from the one of a massless field, as well as of going beyond the slow-roll approximation by using a phase-space approach. On a general ground, our analysis shows that relating the period of inflation to precision particle physics requires a knowledge of these "irrelevant" effects.

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“…However, this part will contribute to the effective potential through the φ dependent loop logarithms. The UV limit of the de Sitter effective potential for the theory (4.1) at one loop level takes the form 3 [40]…”

Section: Yukawa Theory In Curved Spacetimementioning

confidence: 99%

Renormalisation group improvement in the stochastic formalism

Hardwick

Markkanen

Nurmi

2019

J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.

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We investigate compatibility between the stochastic infrared (IR) resummation of light test fields on inflationary spacetimes and renormalisation group running of the ultraviolet (UV) physics. Using the Wilsonian approach, we derive improved stochastic Langevin and Fokker-Planck equations which consistently include the renormalisation group effects. With the exception of stationary solutions, these differ from the naive approach of simply replacing the classical potential in the standard stochastic equations with the renormalisation group improved potential. Using this new formalism, we exemplify the IR dynamics with the Yukawa theory during inflation, illustrating the differences between the consistent implementation of the UV running and the naive approach.

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Cosmological Aspects of Higgs Vacuum Metastability

Cited by 116 publications

References 354 publications

Scalar correlation functions for a double-well potential in de Sitter space

Scalar correlation functions for a double-well potential in de Sitter space

Higgs vacuum (in)stability during inflation. The dangerous relevance of de Sitter departure and Planck-suppressed operators

Renormalisation group improvement in the stochastic formalism

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