Higgs vacuum stability and inflationary dynamics in the light of BICEP2 results

Abstract

Recent detection of B−mode polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background by BICEP2 observations has surprisingly put the inflationary scale near Grand Unification scale if one considers single-field inflationary models. On the other hand, Large Hadron Collider has observed the elusive Higgs particle whose presently observed mass can lead to electroweak vacuum instability at high scale (∼O(109) GeV). In this article, we seek for a simple particle physics model which can simultaneously keep the vacuum of the theory stable and yield high-scale inflation successfully. To serve our purpose, we extend the Standard Model of particle physics with a U(1)B−L gauged symmetry which spontaneously breaks down just above the inflationary scale. Such a scenario provides a constrained parameter space where both the issues of vacuum stability and high-scale inflation can be successfully accommodated. The threshold effect on the Higgs quartic coupling due to the presence of the heavy inflaton field plays an important role in keeping the electroweak vacuum stable. Furthermore, this scenario is also capable of reheating the universe at the end of inflation. Though the issues of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, which dominate the late-time evolution of our universe, cannot be addressed within this framework, this model successfully describes the early universe dynamics according to the Big Bang model.