Inflating to the Weak Scale

Understand

We present a new solution to the hierarchy problem, where the Higgs mass is at its observed electroweak value because such a patch inflates the most in the early universe.

• If the Higgs mass depends on a field undergoing quantum fluctuations during inflation, then inflation will fill the universe with the Higgs mass that corresponds to the largest vacuum energy.
• The hierarchy problem is solved if the maximum vacuum energy occurs for the observed Higgs mass.
• We demonstrate this notion with a proof-of-principle model containing an axion, a modulus field and the Higgs, and show that inflation can be responsible for the weak scale.