Recurrent Acceleration in Dilaton-Axion Cosmology

A class of Einstein-dilaton-axion models is found for which almost all flat expanding homogeneous and isotropic universes undergo recurrent periods of acceleration. We also extend recent results on eternally accelerating open universes.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. minor changes. Version 4 corrects a figure captio

Surprises with angular momentum

The physics of angular momentum in even space dimensions can be surprisingly counter-intuitive. Three such suprises, all associated with the properties of supersymmetric rotating objects, are examined: (i) 5D black holes, (ii) Dyonic instantons and (iii) Supertubes.Comment: 11 pp. Contribution to proceedings of TH-2002; revised to include typographical corrections and further reference

p-Brane Democracy

The ten or eleven dimensional origin of central charges in the N=4 or N=8 supersymmetry algebra in four dimensions is reviewed: while some have a standard Kaluza-Klein interpretation as momenta in compact dimensions, most arise from $p$-form charges in the higher-dimensional supersymmetry algebra that are carried by $p$-brane `solitons'. Although $p=1$ is singled out by superstring perturbation theory, U-duality of N=8 superstring compactifications implies a complete `$p$-brane democracy' of the full non-perturbative theory. An `optimally democratic' perturbation theory is defined to be one in which the perturbative spectrum includes all particles with zero magnetic charge. Whereas the heterotic string is optimally democratic in this sense, the type II superstrings are not, although the 11-dimensional supermembrane might be.Comment: Some typos, and typographical problems, of previous revised version corrected. 15 pp. Latex. This paper will appear in the proceedings of the March 95 PASCOS/Johns Hopkins conferenc