Non-minimal Higgs inflation and frame dependence in cosmology
- School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD (United Kingdom)
- Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia and INFN, Via Irnerio 46, 40126 Bologna, Italy and L.D. Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kosygin str. 2, 119334 Moscow (Russian Federation)
We investigate a very general class of cosmological models with scalar fields non-minimally coupled to gravity. A particular representative in this class is given by the non-minimal Higgs inflation model in which the Standard Model Higgs boson and the inflaton are described by one and the same scalar particle. While the predictions of the non-minimal Higgs inflation scenario come numerically remarkably close to the recently discovered mass of the Higgs boson, there remains a conceptual problem in this model that is associated with the choice of the cosmological frame. While the classical theory is independent of this choice, we find by an explicit calculation that already the first quantum corrections induce a frame dependence. We give a geometrical explanation of this frame dependence by embedding it into a more general field theoretical context. From this analysis, some conceptional points in the long lasting cosmological debate: 'Jordan frame vs. Einstein frame' become more transparent and in principle can be resolved in a natural way.
- OSTI ID:
- 22113529
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1514, Issue 1; Conference: Multicosmofun '12: Multiverse and fundamental cosmology conference, Szczecin (Poland), 10-14 Sep 2012; Other Information: (c) 2013 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Consistent cosmology with Higgs thermal inflation in a minimal extension of the MSSM
Supergravity contributions to inflation in models with non-minimal coupling to gravity