Electroweak and B Physics Results from the Fermilab Tevatron Collider

This writeup is an introduction to some of the experimental issues involved in performing electroweak and B physics measurements at the Fermilab Tevatron. In the electroweak sector, we discuss W and Z boson cross section measurements as well as the measurement of the mass of the W boson. For B physics, we discuss measurements of B^0/\bar{B^0} mixing and CP violation. This paper is geared towards nonexperts who are interested in understanding some of the issues and motivations for these measurements and how the measurements are carried out.Comment: 42 pages, presented at the 2000 SLAC Summer Institut

Solitonic Brane Inflation

We present a new type of brane inflation motivated by multi-kink solitonic solutions of a scalar field in five dimensions. In the thin brane limit, we analyze a non-static configuration in which the distance between two parallel domain walls decreases. We show that the ensuing spacetime is inflationary, both on the branes, and, for certain potentials, in the bulk. We argue that this inflationary regime is transitory and can end via a brane merger into a single kink solution - a flat, thick brane RS2 universe. This scenario is quite general; we show that any potential which supports a single flat kink solution is also likely to support an inflationary multi-kink configuration.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures; v.2: journal versio