A spin-1 top quark superpartner.

We construct a supersymmetric model where the left-handed top and bottom quarks are mainly the gauginos of a vector supermultiplet and hence their superpartners are spin 1. The right-handed top quark is unified with the Higgs field; the top Yukawa coupling arises from the gaugino coupling.

Accurate mass determinations in decay chains with missing energy.

Many beyond the standard model theories include a stable dark matter candidate that yields missing or invisible energy in collider detectors. If observed at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, we must determine if its mass and other properties (and those of its partners) predict the correct dark matter relic density. We give a new procedure for determining its mass with small error.

Kaluza-Klein dark matter.

We propose that cold dark matter is made of Kaluza-Klein particles and explore avenues for its detection. The lightest Kaluza-Klein state is an excellent dark matter candidate if standard model particles propagate in extra dimensions and Kaluza-Klein parity is conserved. We consider Kaluza-Klein gauge bosons. In sharp contrast to the case of supersymmetric dark matter, these annihilate to hard positrons, neutrinos, and photons with unsuppressed rates. Direct detection signals are also promising. These conclusions are generic to bosonic dark matter candidates.

Extranatural inflation.

We present a new model of inflation in which the inflaton is the extra component of a gauge field in a 5D theory compactified on a circle. The chief merit of this model is that the potential comes only from nonlocal effects so that its flatness is not spoiled by higher-dimensional operators or quantum gravity corrections. The model predicts a red spectrum (n approximately 0.96) and a significant production of gravitational waves (r approximately 0.11). We also comment on the relevance of this idea to quintessence.