Dark energy from non-degenerate Higgs-vacuum

Abstract

Scalar fields are favorite among the possible candidates for the dark energy. Most frequently discussed are those with degenerate minima at $\pm \phi_{min}$. In this paper, a slightly modified two-Higgs doublet model is taken to contain the Higgs field(s) as the dark energy candidate(s). The model considered has two non-degenerate minima at $\phi_{\pm}$, instead of one degenerate minimum at $\pm\phi_{min}$. The component fields of one SU(2) doublet ($\phi_1$) act as the standard model (SM) Higgs, while the component fields of the second doublet ($\phi_2$) are taken to be the dark energy candidates (lying in the true vacuum). It is found that one \emph{can} arrange for late time acceleration (dark energy) by using an SU(2) Higgs doublet, whose vacuum expectation value is zero, in the quintessential regime.