Higgs Inflation with linear and quadratic curvature corrections

TL;DR

This paper explores how curvature corrections to Higgs inflation models can produce successful inflation consistent with Planck data and the Standard Model, potentially allowing the Higgs boson to serve as the inflaton.

Contribution

It provides exact analytical expressions for inflationary parameters in a Higgs inflation model with curvature corrections, demonstrating compatibility with observational data.

Findings

Curvature corrections enable the $$ potential to match CMB observations.

The model aligns Higgs phenomenology with inflationary requirements.

Analytical expressions for inflationary quantities are derived.

Abstract

We consider a single scalar field inflation model with Higgs potential and curvature corrections given by non-minimal derivative coupling to gravity and coupling to the Gauss-Bonnet invariant. Exact analytical expressions, within the slow-roll approximation, are obtained for the main physical quantities. These corrections lead to successful inflation driven by the $\phi^4$-potential with the main inflationary observables in the regions restricted by the latest Planck data. It is shown that these curvature corrections can make the $\phi^4$ potential not only compatible with the current CMB observations, but also consistent with the Standard Model Higgs phenomenology, achieving the possibility that the Higgs boson acts as the primordial inflaton.