Mark P. Hertzberg

Running inflation in the Standard Model

Abstract An interacting scalar field with largish coupling to curvature can support a distinctive inflationary universe scenario. Previously this has been discussed for the Standard Model Higgs field, treated classically or in a leading log approximation. Here we investigate the quantum theory using renormalization group methods. In this model the running of both the effective Planck mass and the couplings is important. The cosmological predictions are consistent with existing WMAP5 data, with 0.967 ≲ n s ≲ 0.98 (for N e = 60 ) and negligible gravity waves. We find a relationship between the spectral index and the Higgs mass that is sharply varying for m h ∼ 120 – 135 GeV (depending on the top mass); in the future, that relationship could be tested against data from PLANCK and LHC. We also comment briefly on how similar dynamics might arise in more general settings, and discuss our assumptions from the effective field theory point of view.

CMBPol Mission Concept Study Probing Ination with CMB Polarization

We summarize the utility of precise cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization measurements as probes of the physics of ination. We focus on the prospects for using CMB measurementsWe summarize the utility of precise cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization measurements as probes of the physics of inflation. We focus on the prospects for using CMB measurements to differentiate various inflationary mechanisms. In particular, a detection of primordial B‐mode polarization would demonstrate that inflation occurred at a very high energy scale, and that the inflaton traversed a super‐Planckian distance in field space. We explain how such a detection or constraint would illuminate aspects of physics at the Planck scale. Moreover, CMB measurements can constrain the scale‐dependence and non‐Gaussianity of the primordial fluctuations and limit the possibility of a significant isocurvature contribution. Each such limit provides crucial information on the underlying inflationary dynamics. Finally, we quantify these considerations by presenting forecasts for the sensitivities of a future satellite experiment to the inflationary parameters.

On inflation with non-minimal coupling

A simple realization of inflation consists of adding the following operators to the Einstein-Hilbert action: (∂ϕ)2, λϕ4, and ξϕ2R, with ξ a large non-minimal coupling. Recently there has been much discussion as to whether such theories make sense quantum mechanically and if the inflaton ϕ can also be the Standard Model Higgs. In this work we answer these questions. Firstly, for a single scalar ϕ, we show that the quantum field theory is well behaved in the pure gravity and kinetic sectors, since the quantum generated corrections are small. However, the theory likely breaks down at ~mPl/ξ due to scattering provided by the self-interacting potential λϕ4. Secondly, we show that the theory changes for multiple scalars

The Effective Field Theory of Cosmological Large Scale Structures

\overrightarrow \phi

Inflationary constraints on type IIA string theory

with non-minimal coupling

Axion cosmology and the energy scale of inflation

\xi \overrightarrow \phi \cdot \overrightarrow \phi \mathcal{R}

Nonperturbative Dynamics Of Reheating After Inflation: A Review

, since this introduces qualitatively new interactions which manifestly generate large quantum corrections even in the gravity and kinetic sectors, spoiling the theory for energies ≳ mPl/ξ. Since the Higgs doublet of the Standard Model includes the Higgs boson and 3 Goldstone bosons, it falls into the latter category and therefore its validity is manifestly spoiled. We show that these conclusions hold in both the Jordan and Einstein frames and describe an intuitive analogy in the form of the pion Lagrangian. We also examine the recent claim that curvature-squared inflation models fail quantum mechanically. Our work appears to go beyond the recent discussions.

Some calculable contributions to entanglement entropy

A bstractLarge scale structure surveys will likely become the next leading cosmological probe. In our universe, matter perturbations are large on short distances and small at long scales, i.e. strongly coupled in the UV and weakly coupled in the IR. To make precise analytical predictions on large scales, we develop an effective field theory formulated in terms of an IR effective fluid characterized by several parameters, such as speed of sound and viscosity. These parameters, determined by the UV physics described by the Boltzmann equation, are measured from N-body simulations. We find that the speed of sound of the effective fluid is

Attractive Casimir Forces in a Closed Geometry

c_s^2 \approx {1}{0^{{ - {6}}}}{c^{2}}

Do Dark Matter Axions Form a Condensate with Long-Range Correlation?

and that the viscosity contributions are of the same order. The fluid describes all the relevant physics at long scales k and permits a manifestly convergent perturbative expansion in the size of the matter perturbations δ(k) for all the observables. As an example, we calculate the correction to the power spectrum at order δ(k)4. The predictions of the effective field theory are found to be in much better agreement with observation than standard cosmological perturbation theory, already reaching percent precision at this order up to a relatively short scale k ⋍ 0.24h Mpc−1.