Curvature Perturbations from Higgs Modulated Reheating

Abstract: In this work we investigate curvature perturbations and non-Gaussianity arising from Higgs modulated reheating in the early Universe. We employ three different methods -- the period-averaging (PA) method, the exact method, and the non-perturbative $δN$ formalism -- to compute the power spectrum and bispectrum of curvature perturbations. Our results show that the non-perturbative $δN$ method provides a reliable estimate across a wide range of reheating time and Higgs field values, including regimes where the Higgs field oscillates significantly after inflation. We find that a smaller Higgs self-coupling ($λ$) leads to a larger curvature perturbation, with the non-Gaussianity predominantly taking a local shape. This highlights the importance of considering non-perturbative effects in calculating the curvature perturbation during Higgs modulated reheating, especially for smaller values of $λ$. Our findings offer valuable insights into the dynamics of reheating and the generation of primordial perturbations in the early Universe.