Higgs field in cosmology

Understand

The accelerated expansion of the early universe is an integral part of modern cosmology and dynamically realized by the mechanism of inflation.

• The simplest theoretical description of the inflationary paradigm is based on the assumption of an additional propagating scalar degree of freedom which drives inflation - the inflaton.
• In most models of inflation the fundamental nature of the inflaton remains unexplained.
• In the model of Higgs inflation, the inflaton is identified with the Standard Model Higgs boson and connects cosmology with elementary particle physics.