Destabilization of the EW vacuum in non-minimally coupled inflation

Abstract

Current cosmological data favour inflationary models non-minimally coupled to gravity. In this work we study the implications of the metastability of the electroweak vacuum in this framework. We consider an inflaton field with a non-minimal coupling to Ricci curvature and a portal coupling between the Higgs field and the inflaton and find that the ratio of the two couplings is severely constrained from stability during inflation and reheating dynamics, with constraints becoming more severe for weaker non-minimal coupling as during inflation Higgs fluctuations are amplified by inflationary expansion and after inflation by parametric resonance due to an oscillating inflaton background.