Faculty	Thomas W. Kephart Robert J. Scherrer Thomas J. Weiler Robert A. Knop (astronomer, with related interests)
Current Post Docs	Ralf Lehnert Sergio Palomares-Ruiz Anjan Sen
Graduate Students	Rupam Das Daniel Hobbs Martha Holmes Marcin Jankiewicz Matthew Weippert
Recent Post Docs	Arjun Berera (Faculty, Univ. Edinburgh, Scotland) Roman Buniy (Post Doc, Univ. Oregon) Heinrich Paes (Post Doc, Univ. Hawaii)
Recent PhDs	Liguo Song (2004; Credit Suisse Boston, NYC) Stuart Wick (1999; Lecturer, Southern Methodist Univ.)

Kephart, Scherrer, and Weiler publish on topics in astrophysics, cosmology, particle physics, and quantum field theory. Kephart works on field theory and gravity in the very-early Universe, Scherrer on constraining modern field theory via comparisons with the intermediate-aged Universe, and Weiler on the extreme-energy phenomenon produced in the late Universe.

Dr. Thomas Kephart
Higher-dimensional field theory, the very-early Universe, black holes, and the application of knot-theory to physics.

Dr. Robert Scherrer
Dynamics of dark energy and the moderately early Universe, including CMB and BBN constraints on possible new physics. Dr. Scherrer is Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Vanderbilt University. His book "Quantum Mechanics: An Accessible Introduction", is scheduled for publication in August 2005, and he is the author of numerous science fiction stories.

Dr. Thomas Weiler
Extreme-energy Universe, including mysteries in highest-energy cosmic rays, and the use of cosmic neutrinos to study astrophysical sources and neutrinos themselves. Dr. Weiler is obsessed with finding a means to observe the cosmic neutrino background (CnB). He is a fellow of the APS, Division of Particles and Fields; and he wastes too much time watching sports.

Dr. Robert Knop          (Astronomy Group)
Research into extremely distant Type Ia supernovae to measure the history of the expansion rate of the universe, in collaboration with the Supernova Cosmology Project.

Dr. Ralf Lehnert
Lorentz/CPT violation as a signal for physics beyond the Standard Model:

Mechanisms for Lorentz/CPT violation in underlying models.

QFT description of Lorentz/CPT breaking at low energies.

Identification of suitable tests.

Currently, Dr. Lehnert studies neutrinos as a tool in the search for new physics.

Dr. Sergio Palomares-Ruiz

Neutrino Phenomenology: from the resolustion of the neutrino oscillation picture with present and future experiments to very high energy neutrinos in order to understand astrophysical sources and physics beyond the Standard Model.

Neutrinos in Cosmology: either by studying modifications of the Standard Model of cosmology or that of particle physics.

Dr. Anjan Sen

Dark energy model building and its observational signatures.

Structure formations in the Universe.

Inflation.

Brane cosmology.

Rupam Das

Dark Energy (K-essence and Quintessence)

Loop Quantum Gravity.

Daniel Hobbs

Marcin Jankiewicz

Compactification lattices in heterotic string theories.

Generalizations of Monster Moonshine to higher dimensional conformal field theories.

Currently studying warped geometries in cosmological models, and tachyon cosmology.

Matthew Weippert

1. Signatures for a Cosmic Flux of Magnetic Monopoles, S.D. Wick, T.W. Kephart, T. J. Weiler, and P.L. Biermann, Astroparticle Physics 18(6), 663, (2003) [astro-ph/0001233].
   
   
2. Optimizing T-Violating Effects for Neutrino Oscillations in Matter, S. Parke and T. J. Weiler, Physical Review Letters, B501, 106 (2001) [hep-ph/0011247].
   
   
3. Neutrino Cross-Sections at High Energies, and Future Observations of Ultrahigh-Energy Cosmic Rays, A. Kusenko and T. J. Weiler, Physical Review Letters 88, 161101 (2002) [hep-ph/0106071].
   
   
4. Physics with Cosmic Neutrinos: PeV to ZeV, T. J. Weiler, International Journal of Modern Physics A18, 4065 (2003).
   
   
5. Decay of High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos, J.F. Beacom, N.F. Bell, D. Hooper, S. Pakvasa, and T. J. Weiler, Physical Review Letters 90, 181301 (2003) [hep-ph/0211305].
   
   
6. Pseudo-Dirac Neutrinos, a Challenge for Neutrino Telescopes, J. F. Beacom, N. F. Bell, D. Hooper, J. G. Learned, S. Pakvasa, and T. J. Weiler, Physical Review Letters 92, 011101 (2004) [hep-ph/0307151
   
   
7. Galactic Point Sources of TeV Antineutrinos, L. A. Anchordoqui, H. Goldberg, F. Halzen, and T. J. Weiler, Physical Review Letters B593, 42 (2004) [astro-ph/0311002].
   
   
8. Space-Time Foam and Cosmic-Ray Interactions, M. Jankiewicz, R. Buniy, T. W. Kephart, and T. J. Weiler, Astroparticle Physics 21, 651 (2004) [hep-ph/0312221].
   
   
9. Relic Neutrino Absorption Spectroscopy, B. Eberle, A. Ringwald, L. Song, and T. J. Weiler, Physical Review D 70, 023007 (2004) [hep-ph/0401203]
   
   
10. “Neutrinos as a Diagnostic of High Energy Astrophysical Processes”, M. Ahlers, L. Anchordoqui, H. Goldberg, F. Halzen, A. Ringwald, and T. J. Weiler, submitted to Physical Review Letters [hep-ph/0410003].
    
    
11. "Sterile-Active Neutrino Oscillations and Shortcuts in the Extra Dimension”, H. Paes, S. Pakvasa, and T. J. Weiler, submitted to Physical Review D [hep-ph/0504096].
    
    
12. The Uncertainty in Newton's Constant and Precision Predictions of the Primordial Helium Abundance, R. J. Scherrer, Physical Review D 69, 107302 (2004).
    
    
13. Purely Kinetic K-Essence as Unified Dark Matter, R. J. Scherrer, Physical Review Letters 93, 011301 (2004).
    
    
14. Do Fermions and Bosons Produce the Same Gravitational Field? J. D. Barrow and R. J. Scherrer Physical Review D, in press, astro-ph/0406088.
    
    
15. Phantom Dark Energy, Cosmic Doomsday, and the Coincidence Problem, R. J. Scherrer, astro-ph/0410508.
    
    
16. "Auger Test of the Cen A Model of Highest Energy Cosmic Rays", L.A.Anchordoqui, H. Goldberg, and T.J. Weiler, Physical Review Letters, 87, 081101 (2001) [astro-ph/0103043].
    
    
17. "The Uncertainty in Newton's Constant and Precision Predictions of the Primordial Helium Abundance", R. J. Scherrer, Physical Review D 69, 107302 (2004).
    
    
18. "Purely kinetic k-essence as unified dark matter", R. J. Scherrer, Physical Review Letters 93, 011301 (2004).
    
    
19. "Constraints on Non-Standard Recombination from Recent CMB Observations". A. M. Linn and R. J. Scherrer, astro-ph/0404282.
    
    
20. "Do Fermions and Bosons Produce the Same Gravitational Field?" J. D. Barrow and R. J. Scherrer. Physical Review D, in press, astro-ph/0406088.
    
    
21. "Phantom Dark Energy, Cosmic Doomsday, and the Coincidence Problem", R. J. Scherrer, astro-ph/0410508.
    
    
22. "Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment in String Inspired Extended Family Models'', T. W. Kephart and H. Paes, Physical Review D 65:093014 (2002) [hep-ph/0102243].
    
    
23. "Black Holes, Mergers, and the Entropy Budget of the Universe", T. W. Kephart and Y. J. Ng, JCAP 10, 002 (2003) [gr-qc/0204081].
    
    
24. "Inflation and Generalized O'Raifeartaigh SUSY Models", A. Berera and T. W. Kephart, Physics Letter B 578,1 (2004) [hep-ph/0207208].
    
    
25. "Construction of Multi-instantons in Eight Dimensions,'' R. V. Buniy and T. W. Kephart, Physics Letter B 548, 97 (2002) [hep-th/0210037].
    
    
26. "A Model of Glueballs", R. V. Buniy and T. W. Kephart, Physics Letter B 576, 127 (2003)[hep-ph/0209339].
    
    
27. "On the existence of finite-energy classical glueballs in gauge theories with sources", R. V. Buniy and T. W. Kephart, Physical Review D 105015 (2003) [hep-th/0303195].
    
    
28. "MSSM from AdS/CFT", P. H. Frampton and T. W. Kephart, Physics Letter B 585, 24 (2004) [hep-ph/0306053].
    
    
29. "Consistency conditions for AdS/CFT embeddings", P. H. Frampton and T. W. Kephart, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A19, 593 (2004) [hep-th/0306207].
    
    
30. "The Eccrentric Universe,'' A. Berera, R. V. Buniy and T. W. Kephart, JCAP, 10, 016 (2004) [hep-h/0311233].
    
    
31. "Classification of SUSY and non-SUSY Chiral Models from abelian Orbifolded ADS/CFT", T. W. Kephart and Heinrich Paes, Phys. Rev. D70, 086009 (2004) [hep-ph/0402228].