  We study inflation and reheating in a brane world model derived from Type IIA
string theory. This particular setup is based on a model of string mediated
supersymmetry breaking. The inflaton is one of the transverse scalars of a
D4-brane which has one of its spatial dimensions stretched between two
NS5-branes, so that it is effectively three-dimensional. This D4-brane is
attracted to a D6-brane that is separated from the 5-branes by a fixed amount.
The potential of the transverse scalar due to the D4/D6 interaction makes a
good inflaton potential. As the D4-brane slides along the two 5-branes towards
the 6-brane it begins to oscillate near the minimum of the potential. The
inflaton field couples to the massless Standard Model fields through Yukawa
couplings. In the brane picture these couplings are introduced by having
another D6'-brane intersect the D4-brane such that the 4-6' strings, whose
lowest lying modes are the Standard Model matter, couple to the scalar mode of
the 4-4 strings, the inflaton. The inflaton can decay into scalar and spinor
particles on the 4-6' strings, reheating the universe. Observational data is
used to place constraints on the parameters of the model.

High Energy Physics - Theory;Astrophysics;General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology;High Energy Physics - Phenomenology