Are Provisional Patent Applications Published?

The general rule is that provisional patent applications are not published by the U.S. Patent Office.  However, there are situations where a provisional patent application may become publicly available for the public to inspect.  See http://www.patent-ideas.com/Provisional-Patent-Applications/Are-Provisional-Patent-Applications-Published.aspx for more information about the publication of provisional patent applications and the possible public availability of a provisional patent application.