Higgs Inflation: constraining the top quark mass and breaking the $H_0$-$\sigma_8$ correlation

TL;DR

This paper investigates Higgs inflation, constrains the top quark mass using cosmological data, and examines the $H_0$-$\sigma_8$ correlation to address current cosmological tensions.

Contribution

It provides new constraints on the top quark mass within Higgs inflation and explores the breakdown of the $H_0$-$\sigma_8$ correlation.

Findings

Top quark mass constrained to ≤ 170.44 GeV

Model compatible with recent CMS top mass estimates

Breakdown of $H_0$-$\sigma_8$ correlation analyzed

Abstract

Extending previous results [JHEP 11 (2021) 091], we explore aspects of the reheating mechanism for non-minimal Higgs inflation in the strong coupling regime. We constrain the radiative corrections for the inflaton's potential by considering the Coleman-Weinberg approximation and use the Renormalization Group Equations for the Higgs field to derive an upper limit on the quark top mass, $m_t$. Using the current Cosmic Microwave Background, Baryon Acoustic Oscillation, and Supernova data, we obtain $m_t \leq 170.44$ GeV, confirming the observational compatibility of the model with recent $m_t$ estimates reported by the CMS collaboration. We also analyze the breakdown of the well-known correlation involving the Hubble constant $H_0$ and the clustering parameter $\sigma_8$, which makes the model interesting in light of the cosmological tensions discussed over the last decade.