Inflationary universe in Kaluza-Klein theories

We describe extended inflation and its typical problems. We then briefly review essential features of Kaluza-Klein theory, and show that it leads to a scenario of inflationary cosmology in four dimensions. The problem of stable compactification of extra spatial dimensions is discussed. The requirements for successful extended inflation lead to constraints on the parameters of higher dimensional models.Comment: Latex, 13 pages (Review talk at the YATI meeting at SNBNCBS, Calcutta. To appear in Ind. Jour. Phys.

Aspects of nonlocality in atom-photon interactions in a cavity

We investigate a Bell-type inequality for probabilities of detected atoms formulated using atom-photon interactions in a cavity. We consider decoherence brought about by both atomic decay, as well as cavity photon loss, and study its quantitative action in diminishing the atom-field and the resultant atom-atom secondary correlations. We show that the effects of decoherence on nonlocality can be observed in a controlled manner in actual experiments involving the micromaser and also the microlaser.Comment: 9 pages, 3 .eps figures, Revtex. Revised version with details of calculations and more result