No Arabic abstract
We study $R^2$-Higgs inflation in a model with two Higgs doublets. The context is the general two Higgs doublet model where the Higgs sector of the Standard Model is extended by an additional Higgs doublet. We first discuss the required inflationary dynamics in this two Higgs doublet model, which includes four scalar fields, in the covariant formalism allowing a nonminimal coupling between the Higgs-squared and the Ricci scalar $R$, as well as the $R^2$ term. We find that the parameter space favored by $R^2$-Higgs inflation requires nearly degenerate $m_mathsf{H}$, $m_A$ and $m_{mathsf{H}^pm}$, where $mathsf{H}$, $A$, and $mathsf{H}^pm$ are the extra CP even, CP odd, and charged Higgs bosons in the general two Higgs doublet model taking renormalization group evolutions of the parameters into account. Discovery of such heavy scalars at the Large Hadron Collider are possible if they are in the sub-TeV mass range. Indirect evidences may also emerge at the LHCb and Belle-II experiments, however, to probe the quasi degenerate mass spectra one would likely require future lepton colliders such as the International Linear Collider and the Future Circular Collider.
We analyse Starobinsky inflation in the presence of the Brout Englert Higgs (BEH) boson with a non-minimal coupling to the Ricci scalar, $R$. The latter induces a coupling of the massive scaleron associated with the $R^2$ term to the BEH boson and this leads to a radiative correction to the BEH mass that must be fine tuned to keep the scalar light. For the case of $R^2$ driven inflation this requires a high level of fine tuning of order 1 part in $10^{8}$; for the case of Higgs inflation it is very much greater. We consider a scale invariant extension of the $R^2$/Higgs model and find that for $R^2$ driven inflation but not for Higgs inflation the required fine tuning is significantly reduced to one part in $10^{3-4}$. We consider the vacuum stability of the fine tuned model and its reheating and dilaton abundance after inflation. We also discuss possible gravitational wave signals associated with the model and the constraint on the mass of scalar or fermion dark matter candidates if they are produced by the gravitational couplings of the scalaron.
We investigate the possibility of simultaneously explaining inflation, the neutrino masses and the baryon asymmetry through extending the Standard Model by a triplet Higgs. The neutrino masses are generated by the vacuum expectation value of the triplet Higgs, while a combination of the triplet and doublet Higgs plays the role of the inflaton. Additionally, the dynamics of the triplet, and its inherent lepton number violating interactions, lead to the generation of a lepton asymmetry during inflation. The resultant baryon asymmetry, inflationary predictions and neutrino masses are consistent with current observational and experimental results.
Higgs inflation and $R^2$-inflation (Starobinsky model) are two limits of the same quantum model, hereafter called Starobinsky-Higgs. We analyse the two-loop action of the Higgs-like scalar $phi$ in the presence of: 1) non-minimal coupling ($xi$) and 2) quadratic curvature terms. The latter are generated at the quantum level with $phi$-dependent couplings ($tildealpha$) even if their tree-level couplings ($alpha$) are tuned to zero. Therefore, the potential always depends on both Higgs field $phi$ and scalaron $rho$, hence multi-field inflation is a quantum consequence. The effects of the quantum (one- and two-loop) corrections on the potential $hat W(phi,rho)$ and on the spectral index are discussed, showing that the Starobinsky-Higgs model is in general stable in their presence. Two special cases are also considered: first, for a large $xi$ in the quantum action one can integrate $phi$ and generate a refined Starobinsky model which contains additional terms $xi^2 R^2ln^p (xi vert Rvert/mu^2)$, $p=1,2$ ($mu$ is the subtraction scale). These generate corrections linear in the scalaron to the usual Starobinsky potential and a running scalaron mass. Second, for a small fixed Higgs field $phi^2 ll M_p^2/xi$ and a vanishing classical coefficient of the $R^2$-term, we show that the usual Starobinsky inflation is generated by the quantum corrections alone, for a suitable non-minimal coupling ($xi$).
We consider a three Higgs doublet model with an $S_3$ symmetry in which beside the SM-like doublet there are two fermiophobic doublets. Due to the new charged scalars there is an enhancement in the two-photon decay while the other channels have the same decay widths that the SM neutral Higgs. The fermiophobic scalars are mass degenerated unless soft terms breaking the $S_3$ symmetry are added.
We interpret the recent discovery of a 125 GeV Higgs-like state in the context of a two Higgs doublets model with a heavy 4th sequential generation of fermions, in which one Higgs doublet couples only to the 4th generation fermions, while the second doublet couples to the lighter fermions of the 1st-3rd families. This model is designed to accommodate the apparent heaviness of the 4th generation fermions and to effectively address the low-energy phenomenology of a dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking scenario. The physical Higgs states of the model are, therefore, viewed as composites primarily of the 4th generation fermions. We find that the lightest Higgs, h, is a good candidate for the recently discovered 125 GeV spin-zero particle, when tanbeta ~ O(1), for typical 4th generation fermion masses of M_{4G} = 400 -600 GeV, and with a large t - t mixing in the right-handed quarks sector. This, in turn, leads to BR(t -> t h) ~ O(1), which drastically changes the t decay pattern. We also find that, based on the current Higgs data, this two Higgs doublet model generically predicts an enhanced production rate (compared to the SM) in the pp -> h -> tau tau channel and a reduced VV -> h -> gamma gamma and pp -> V -> Vh -> Vbb ones. Finally, the heavier CP-even Higgs is excluded by the current data up to m_H ~ 500 GeV, while the pseudoscalar state, A, can be as light as 130 GeV. These heavier Higgs states and the expected deviations from the SM in some of the Higgs production channels can be further excluded or discovered with more data.