Local Conformal Symmetry in Physics and Cosmology
  We show how to lift a generic non-scale invariant action in Einstein frame
into a locally conformally-invariant (or Weyl-invariant) theory and present a
new general form for Lagrangians consistent with Weyl symmetry. Advantages of
such a conformally invariant formulation of particle physics and gravity
include the possibility of constructing geodesically complete cosmologies. We
present a conformal-invariant version of the standard model coupled to gravity,
and show how Weyl symmetry may be used to obtain unprecedented analytic control
over its cosmological solutions. Within this new framework, generic FRW
cosmologies are geodesically complete through a series of big crunch - big bang
transitions. We discuss a new scenario of cosmic evolution driven by the Higgs
field in a \textquotedblleft minimal\textquotedblright% \ conformal standard
model, in which there is no new physics beyond the standard model at low
energies, and the current Higgs vacuum is metastable as indicated by the latest
LHC data.
