Conformal inflation from the Higgs

Abstract

We modify the conformal inflation set-up of [1], with a local Weyl invariance, a dynamical Planck scale and an SO(1, 1) invariance at high energies, in order to be able to identify the physical scalar with the physical Higgs at low energies, similar to the cyclic Higgs models of [2]. We obtain a general class of exponentially-corrected potentials that gives a generalized Starobinsky model with an infinite series of R-p corrections, tracing a line in the (r, n(s) ) plane for CMB fluctuations, with an r that can be made to agree with the recent BICEP2 measurement. Introducing a coupling different from the conformal value, thus breaking the local Weyl symmetry, leads nevertheless to a very strong attractor motion towards the generalized Starobinsky line.