We show that the standard model vacuum can be stabilized if all particle propagators are nonminimally coupled to gravity. This is due to a Higgs-background dependent redefinition of the standard model fields: in terms of canonical variables and in the large Higgs field limit, the quantum fluctuations of the redefined fields are suppressed by the Higgs background. Thus, in this regime, quantum corrections to the tree-level electroweak potential are negligible. Finally, we show that in this framework the Higgs boson can be responsible for inflation. Due to a numerical coincidence that originates from the CMB data, inflation can happen if the Higgs boson mass, the top mass, and the QCD coupling lie in a region of the parameter space approximately equivalent than the one allowing for electroweak vacuum stability in the standard Model. We find some (small) regions in the standard model parameter space in which the new interaction “rescues” the electroweak vacuum, which would not be stable in the standard model.

• Received 25 August 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.93.045005