Higgs Inflation, Quantum Smearing and the Tensor to Scalar Ratio
Abstract
In cosmic inflation driven by a scalar gauge singlet field with a tree level Higgs potential, the scalar to tensor ratio r is estimated to be larger than 0.036, provided the scalar spectral index ns >= 0.96. We discuss quantum smearing of these predictions arising from the inflaton couplings to other particles such as GUT scalars, and show that these corrections can significantly decrease r. However, for ns >= 0.96, we obtain r >= 0.02 which can be tested by the Planck satellite.
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