- Open Access
Phenomenological constraints on Higgs reheating
Phys. Rev. D 112, 115027 – Published 15 December, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/2lqf-qcrg
Abstract
In many models of inflation, reheating is realized through a coupling between the inflaton and the Higgs boson. Often, the mass of the inflaton is of order determined by the amplitude of the scalar fluctuation spectrum. However, in models where the inflaton potential is of the form about its minimum, the inflaton is massless for unless a bare mass term, , is present. In this case, the inflaton mass may be of order the electroweak scale and may be subject to existing collider constraints. In particular, we investigate the constraints on the inflaton mass and reheating temperature arising from the decay of into through an interaction term . We perform a renormalization group analysis to determine the relative values of and such that the Higgs potential remains stable (and perturbative) at high energy. Taking into account the running of the Higgs quartic self-coupling and the experimental constraints from the LHC via the higgstools public code, we find that with a corresponding constraint on the inflaton bare mass . The dependencies between and the inflaton bare mass as well as between and are provided.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Article Text
References (52)
- K. A. Olive, Inflation, Phys. Rep. 190, 307 (1990).
- A. D. Linde, Particle Physics and Inflationary Cosmology (CRC Press, 1990), Vol. 5.
- J. Martin, C. Ringeval, and V. Vennin, Encyclopædia inflationaris: Opiparous edition, Phys. Dark Universe 5–6, 75 (2014).
- J. Martin, C. Ringeval, R. Trotta, and V. Vennin, The best inflationary models after Planck, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 03 (2014) 039.
- J. Martin, The observational status of cosmic inflation after Planck, Astrophys. Space Sci. Proc. 45, 41 (2016).
- J. Ellis and D. Wands, Inflation, arXiv:2312.13238.
- B. D. Fields, K. A. Olive, T.-H. Yeh, and C. Young, Big-bang nucleosynthesis after Planck, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 03 (2020) 010.
- T.-H. Yeh, J. Shelton, K. A. Olive, and B. D. Fields, Probing physics beyond the standard model: Limits from BBN and the CMB independently and combined, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 10 (2022) 046.
- A. D. Dolgov and A. D. Linde, Baryon asymmetry in inflationary universe, Phys. Lett. 116B, 329 (1982).
- L. F. Abbott, E. Farhi, and M. B. Wise, Particle production in the new inflationary cosmology, Phys. Lett. 117B, 29 (1982).
- D. V. Nanopoulos, K. A. Olive, and M. Srednicki, After primordial inflation, Phys. Lett. 127B, 30 (1983).
- A. A. Starobinsky, A new type of isotropic cosmological models without singularity, Phys. Lett. 91B, 99 (1980).
- N. Aghanim et al. (Planck Collaboration), Planck 2018 results. VI. Cosmological parameters, Astron. Astrophys. 641, A6 (2020).
- Y. Akrami et al. (Planck Collaboration), Planck 2018 results. X. Constraints on inflation, Astron. Astrophys. 641, A10 (2020).
- T. Louis et al. (ACT Collaboration), The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 power spectra, likelihoods and LCDM parameters, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 11 (2025) 062.
- J. Ellis, M. A. G. Garcia, K. A. Olive, and S. Verner, Constraints on attractor models of inflation and reheating from Planck, BICEP/Keck, ACT DR6, and SPT-3G data, arXiv:2510.18656.
- E. Camphuis et al. (SPT-3G Collaboration), SPT-3G D1: CMB temperature and polarization power spectra and cosmology from 2019 and 2020 observations of the SPT-3G main field, arXiv:2506.20707.
- Y. Ema, M. A. G. Garcia, W. Ke, K. A. Olive, and S. Verner, Inflaton decay in no-scale supergravity and Starobinsky-like models, Universe 10, 239 (2024).
- A. R. Liddle and S. M. Leach, How long before the end of inflation were observable perturbations produced?, Phys. Rev. D 68, 103503 (2003).
- J. Martin and C. Ringeval, First CMB constraints on the inflationary reheating temperature, Phys. Rev. D 82, 023511 (2010).
- J. Ellis, M. A. G. Garcia, D. V. Nanopoulos, and K. A. Olive, Calculations of inflaton decays and reheating: With applications to no-scale inflation models, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 07 (2015) 050.
- J. Ellis, M. A. G. Garcia, D. V. Nanopoulos, K. A. Olive, and S. Verner, BICEP/Keck constraints on attractor models of inflation and reheating, Phys. Rev. D 105, 043504 (2022).
- R. Kallosh and A. Linde, Universality class in conformal inflation, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 07 (2013) 002.
- R. Kallosh, A. Linde, and D. Roest, Superconformal inflationary -attractors, J. High Energy Phys. 11 (2013) 198.
- J. Ellis, D. V. Nanopoulos, and K. A. Olive, Starobinsky-like inflationary models as avatars of no-scale supergravity, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 10 (2013) 009.
- S. Clery, M. A. G. Garcia, Y. Mambrini, and K. A. Olive, Bare mass effects on the reheating process after inflation, Phys. Rev. D 109, 103540 (2024).
- M. A. G. Garcia, K. Kaneta, Y. Mambrini, and K. A. Olive, Reheating and post-inflationary production of dark matter, Phys. Rev. D 101, 123507 (2020).
- M. A. G. Garcia, K. Kaneta, Y. Mambrini, and K. A. Olive, Inflaton oscillations and post-inflationary reheating, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 04 (2021) 012.
- M. A. G. Garcia, K. Kaneta, W. Ke, Y. Mambrini, K. A. Olive, and S. Verner, The role of vectors in reheating, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 06 (2024) 014.
- M. A. G. Garcia, M. Gross, Y. Mambrini, K. A. Olive, M. Pierre, and J.-H. Yoon, Effects of fragmentation on post-inflationary reheating, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 12 (2023) 028.
- M. A. G. Garcia and M. Pierre, Reheating after inflaton fragmentation, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 11 (2023) 004.
- G. Degrassi, S. Di Vita, J. Elias-Miro, J. R. Espinosa, G. F. Giudice, G. Isidori, and A. Strumia, Higgs mass and vacuum stability in the standard model at NNLO, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2012) 098.
- F. Bezrukov, J. Rubio, and M. Shaposhnikov, Living beyond the edge: Higgs inflation and vacuum metastability, Phys. Rev. D 92, 083512 (2015).
- J. L. F. Barbon, J. A. Casas, J. Elias-Miro, and J. R. Espinosa, Higgs inflation as a mirage, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2015) 027.
- Y. Cado and M. Quirós, Baryogenesis from combined Higgs–scalar field inflation, Phys. Rev. D 106, 055018 (2022).
- M. A. G. Garcia, K. Kaneta, Y. Mambrini, K. A. Olive, and S. Verner, Freeze-in from preheating, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 03 (2022) 016.
- Y. Ema, M. Karciauskas, O. Lebedev, S. Rusak, and M. Zatta, Higgs–inflaton mixing and vacuum stability, Phys. Lett. B 789, 373 (2019).
- K. Harigaya and K. Mukaida, Thermalization after/during reheating, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2014) 006.
- M. A. G. Garcia and M. A. Amin, Prethermalization production of dark matter, Phys. Rev. D 98, 103504 (2018).
- J. Elias-Miro, J. R. Espinosa, G. F. Giudice, H. M. Lee, and A. Strumia, Stabilization of the electroweak vacuum by a scalar threshold effect, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2012) 031.
- H. Bahl, T. Biekötter, S. Heinemeyer, C. Li, S. Paasch, G. Weiglein, and J. Wittbrodt, higgstools: BSM scalar phenomenology with new versions of higgsbounds and higgssignals, Comput. Phys. Commun. 291, 108803 (2023).
- M. Riajul Haque, E. Kpatcha, D. Maity, and Y. Mambrini, Primordial black hole reheating, Phys. Rev. D 108, 063523 (2023).
- S. Kanemura and K. Kaneta, Gravitational waves from particle decays during reheating, Phys. Lett. B 855, 138807 (2024).
- N. Bernal, S. Cléry, Y. Mambrini, and Y. Xu, Probing reheating with graviton bremsstrahlung, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 01 (2024) 065.
- G. Choi, W. Ke, and K. A. Olive, Minimal production of prompt gravitational waves during reheating, Phys. Rev. D 109, 083516 (2024).
- M. A. G. Garcia and M. Pierre, Gravitational wave signatures of post-fragmentation reheating, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 09 (2024) 054.
- Y. Xu, Ultra-high frequency gravitational waves from scattering, Bremsstrahlung and decay during reheating, J. High Energy Phys. 10 (2024) 174.
- N. Bernal and Y. Xu, Thermal gravitational waves during reheating, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2025) 137.
- M. Gross, Y. Mambrini, E. Kpatcha, M. O. Olea-Romacho, and R. Roshan, Gravitational wave production during reheating: From the inflaton to primordial black holes, Phys. Rev. D 111, 035020 (2025).
- Y. Xu, Probing gravitational dark matter with ultra-high frequency gravitational waves, Phys. Lett. B 865, 139483 (2025).
- N. Bernal, Q.-f. Wu, X.-J. Xu, and Y. Xu, Pre-thermalized gravitational waves, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2025) 125.
- X.-J. Xu, Y. Xu, Q. Yin, and J. Zhu, Full-spectrum analysis of gravitational wave production from inflation to reheating, J. High Energy Phys. 10 (2025) 141.