We show how the motion through the extra dimensions of a gas of branes and antibranes can, under certain circumstances, produce an era of inflation as seen by observers trapped on a 3-brane, with the inflaton being the inter-brane separation. Although most of our discussion refers to arbitrary p-branes, when we need to be specific we assume that they are D-branes of Type II or Type I string theory. For realistic brane couplings, such as those arising in string theory, the inter-brane potentials are too steep to inflate the universe for acceptably long times. However, for special regions of the parameter space of brane-antibrane positions the brane motion is slow enough for there to be sufficient inflation. Inflation would be more generic in models where the inter-brane interactions are much weaker. The spectrum of primordial density fluctuations predicted has index n slightly less than 1, and an acceptable amplitude, provided that the extra dimensions have linear size 1/r ∼ 10 12 GeV. Reheating occurs as in hybrid inflation, with the tachyonic instability of the brane-antibrane system taking over for small separations. The tachyon field can induce a cascade mechanism within which higher-dimension branes annihilate into lower-dimension ones. We argue that such a cascade naturally stops with the production of 3-branes in 10-dimensional string theory.

It was recently pointed out that the decays B + → D * + s γ and B + → D * + γ can be used for an extraction of |V ub |. The theory of these decays is poorly understood. It was shown that in a world of almost degenerate b and c-quarks the decay would be computable. The severe difficulties that are encountered in the realistic calculation stem primarily from the very hard photon produced in the two body decay. We point out that in the decays B + → D * + s e + e − and B + → D * + e + e − the photon vertex is soft when the charmed meson is nearly at rest (in the B + rest frame). This allows us to compute with some confidence the decay rate in a restricted but interesting kinematic regime. Given enough data the extraction of V ub with reasonably small uncertainties could proceed through an analysis of these exclusive decays much as is done in the determination of V cb .12.15. Hh, 12.39.Hg, 13.40.Hq, 13.25.Hw

We begin the process of classifying all supersymmetric theories with quantum modified moduli. We determine all theories based on a single SU or Sp gauge group with quantum modified moduli. By flowing among theories we have calculated the precise modifications to the algebraic constraints that determine the moduli at the quantum level. We find a class of theories, those with a classical constraint that is covariant but not invariant under global symmetries, that have a singular modification to the moduli, which consists of a new branch. 11.30. Pb, 11.15.Tk Typeset using REVT E X

Recently, several interesting proposals were made modifying the law of gravity on large scales, within a sensible relativistic formulation. This allows a precise formulation of the idea that such a modification might account for galaxy rotation curves, instead of the usual interpretation of these curves as evidence for dark matter. We here summarize several observational constraints which any such modification must satisfy, and which we believe make more challenging any interpretation of galaxy rotation curves in terms of new gravitational physics.

UCSD/PTH 98-11We complete the process of classifying all supersymmetric theories with quantum modified moduli. We present all the supersymmetric gauge theories based on a simple orthogonal or exceptional group that exhibit a quantum modified moduli space. The quantum modified constraints of theories derived from s-confining theories are invariant under all symmetries. However, theories that cannot be obtained by a deformation of an s-confining theory may have constraints that are covariant, rather than invariant.