The decay of the Standard Model Higgs after inflation

Abstract: In this seminar I will discuss the dynamics of the Standard Model (SM) after inflation, in the regime where the SM is decoupled from (or weakly coupled to) the inflationary sector. During inflation, the Higgs forms a condensate, which starts oscillating soon after inflation ends. Via non-perturbative effects, the oscillations lead to a fast decay of the Higgs into the SM species, transferring most of the energy into Z and W bosons. All species are initially excited far away from equilibrium, but their interactions lead them into a stationary stage, with exact equipartition among the different energy components. In my talk, I will analyze the details of this complicated process, based on the lattice simulations in an expanding box in (3+1) dimensions presented in arXiv:1504.04600. I will also comment briefly about the possible cosmological implications of all this.