Speaker
Description
We propose a modification to the standard hybrid inflation model, that
connects a successful hybrid inflation scenario to the standard model higgs sector, via
the electroweak vacuum stability. The proposed model results in an effective inflation
potential of a hilltop-type, with both the trans-Planckian and sub-Planckian inflation
regimes are consistent with the recent Planck/BICEP combined results. Reheating via
the inflation sector decays to right-handed neutrinos is considered. We show that the couplings of the SM Higgs to the inflation sector can guarantee the electroweak vacuum stability up to Planck scale. The so-called hybrid Higgs-inflaton model leads to a positive correction for the Higgs quartic coupling at a threshold scale, which is shown to have a very significant effect in stabilizing the electroweak vacuum. We find that even with O(1) neutrino Yukawa couplings, threshold corrections leave the SM vacuum stability intact.
