Eur. Phys. J. C (2017) 77: 643
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-5215-9

Regular Article - Theoretical Physics

Baryogenesis in false vacuum

¹ KEK Theory Center, IPNS, KEK, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0801, Japan
² Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, 920-1192, Japan

^* e-mail: yhamada@post.kek.jp

Received: 14 June 2017
Accepted: 11 September 2017
Published online: 23 September 2017

Abstract

The null result in the LHC may indicate that the standard model is not drastically modified up to very high scales, such as the GUT/string scale. Having this in the mind, we suggest a novel leptogenesis scenario realized in the false vacuum of the Higgs field. If the Higgs field develops a large vacuum expectation value in the early universe, a lepton number violating process is enhanced, which we use for baryogenesis. To demonstrate the scenario, several models are discussed. For example, we show that the observed baryon asymmetry is successfully generated in the standard model with higher-dimensional operators.