Higgs boson linked to inflation:

http://phys.org/news/2014-08-higgs-boson-earliest-expansion-universe.html

We'll see what comes out of this proposal.

I stopped reading that article because it propagates the idea of an explosion. Please refer to Thread 160660.

Originally posted by Of Ants and Imps
I stopped reading that article because it propagates the idea of an explosion. Please refer to Thread 160660.

Yes. Your head might explode considering an alternative to what you already think.

Originally posted by sonhouse
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-higgs-boson-earliest-expansion-universe.html

We'll see what comes out of this proposal.

I'm not sure I believe this. The inflaton is the hypothetical particle responsible for inflation. If the electro-weak Higgs, the one they've seen at LHC, was the inflaton, then one would expect inflation to occur during the electro-weak symmetry breaking phase transition. However electo-weak symmetry breaking should have happened after inflation is believed to have ended. So I find it more likely that a grand unification Higgs would be the inflaton.