The Higgs field as an inflaton

Abstract

The Higgs field of the pure Standard Model can lead to the inflationary expansion of the early Universe if it is non-minimally coupled to gravity. The model predicts Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) parameters in perfect agreement with the current observations and has implications for the Higgs boson mass. We review the model, its predictions, problems arising with its quantization and some closely related models.

Comments: 21 pages, 4 figures. Journal version -- several clarifications and improved list of references