Renormalization Group Improved Higgs Inflation with a Running Kinetic Term

TL;DR

This paper investigates Higgs inflation models with a running kinetic term, analyzing how renormalization group effects influence inflationary predictions, and finds that quadratic potential models are incompatible with observations while linear ones remain viable.

Contribution

It introduces a renormalization group improved Higgs inflation framework with a running kinetic term and compares quadratic and linear potentials against observational data.

Findings

Quadratic potential Higgs inflation is ruled out by CMB data.

Linear potential Higgs inflation remains consistent with observations.

Renormalization group effects significantly impact inflationary predictions.

Abstract

We study a Higgs inflation model with a running kinetic term, taking account of the renormalization group evolution of relevant coupling constants. Specifically we study two types of the running kinetic Higgs inflation, where the inflaton potential is given by the quadratic or linear term potential in a frame where the Higgs field is canonically normalized. We solve the renormalization group equations at two-loop level and calculate the scalar spectral index and the tensor-to-scalar ratio. We find that, even if the renormalization group effects are included, the quadratic inflation is ruled out by the CMB observations, while the linear one is still allowed.