Associate Professor

Education

Ph.D.	Physics	California Institute of Technology	1993
M.S.	Physics	California Institute of Technology	1988
B.S.	Mathematics	Valparaiso University	1985
B.S.	Physics	Valparaiso University	1985

Biography

Gerald Cleaver is an Associate Professor of Physics at Baylor University. He is a member of the Physics Department's High Energy Physics group and also heads the Early Universe Cosmology and String Theory division of Baylor's Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics, and Engineering Research. Gerald earned his Ph.D. at Caltech in 1993, where he studied under John H. Schwarz, one of the founders of string theory. Cleaver has written over 60 peer-reviewed journal papers and conference proceedings, which have received over 1200 total citations. He is the author of one book chapter and a co-author of two books currently in draft form.

Academic Interests and Research

Gerald Cleaver's specialty is Superstring Theory, which unifies all forces in nature (gravity, electromagnetics, and the two nuclear forces). In superstring theory each elementary particle in nature originates as a distinct vibration of a single type of string (or loop) of energy, much as different musical notes are produced from a single violin string. Gerald's current research topics in string theory include the construction of phenomenologically realistic superstring models, string/M-theory cosmology, and the string landscape. With former postdoc Tibra Ali (now at the Perimeter Institute in Canada) and Cleaver has been investigating half-flat manifolds for heterotic strings. With his graduate students, Cleaver is conducting a long-term systematic study of the global physical properties of the string landscape in the free-fermionic heterotic region.

Research Interests

Theoretical Particle Physics
• Phenomenology of String Derived Models
• M-Theory Phenomenology
Early Universe Cosmology and Strings
Division of CASPER
• String/M Landscape Investigations
• Randall-Sundrum Braneworld Scenarios
• String and Brane Cosmology

Selected Publications

Branes in the MD x Md+ x Md- Compactification of type II string on S1 /Z2 and their cosmological applications, JHEP 10 (2009) 095; arXiv: 0907.1756 [hep-ph],
by Michael Devin, Tibra Ali, Gerald Cleaver, Anzhong Wang, Qiang Wu.

A Non-Standard String Embedding of E8, Mod. Phys. Lett A.24 (2009) 1577-1582; arXiv: 0810-1038 [hep-ph],
by Richard Obousy, and Matthew Robinson, and Gerald Cleaver.

Free Fermionic Heterotic Model Building and Root Systems, Mod. Phys. Lett A20 (2009) 2703-2715; arXiv: 0809.5094 [hep-th],
by Matthew Robinson, Gerald Cleaver, and Markus Hunziker.

Radius Destabilization in Five Dimensional Orbifolds from Lorentz Violating Fields, Mod. Phys. Lett. A24 (2009) 1495-1506; arXiv: 0805.0019 [gr-qc],
by Richard Obousy and Gerald Cleaver.

Quasi-Realistic Heterotic-String Models with Vanishing One-Loop Cosmological Constant and Perturbatively Broken Supersymmetry? Phys. Rev. D78 (2008) 046009; arXiv:0802.0470 [hep-th],
by Gerald B. Cleaver, Alon E. Faraggi, Elisa Manno, and Cristina Timirgaziu.

A Note on the Standard Embedding on Half-Flat Manifolds, JHEP 0807 (2008) 121; arXiv:0711.3248 [hep-th],
by Tibra Ali and Gerald B. Cleaver.

Warp Drive: A New Approach, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, September, 2008; arXiv:0712.1649 [gr-qc],
by Richard Obousy and Gerald Cleaver.

A Simple Introduction to Particle Physics: Part II. Geometric Foundations, Gauge Theories, and Relativity, Book draft; arXiv:0908.1395 [hep-th],
by Matthew Robinson, Tibra Ali, and G. Cleaver.

A Simple Introduction to Particle Physics: Part I. Foundations and the Standard Model, Book draft; arXiv:0810.3328 [hep-th],
by Matthew Robinson, Karen Bland, Gerald Cleaver, and Jay Dittmann.

In Search of the (Minimal Supersymmetric) Standard Model String. Chapter 2 of String Theory Research Progress, F. Balogh, ed., (Nova Science Publishers, New York, 2008); hep-ph/0703027,
by Gerald Cleaver.

Current Graduate Students

Tim Renner
Kristin Pechan
Jared Greenwald

Past Graduate Students

Matt Robinson, Ph.D. 2009, Dissertation: Towards a Systematic Investigation of Weakly Coupled Free Fermionic Heterotic String Gauge Group Statistics

Richard Obousy, Ph.D. 2008, Dissertation: Investigations into Compactified Dimensions: Casimir Energies and Phenomenological Aspects

Ben Dundee, M.S. 2006, Dissertation: Grand Unified Theoreis in Higher Dimensions: From the Heterotic String to Randall-Sundrum

John Perkins, Ph.D. 2005, Thesis: Aspects of String Phenomenology at the Self-Dual Radius

Past Postdocs Tibra Ali

Courses Taught

PHY 2435 - General Physics II
PHY 3372 - Intro Quantum Mechanics I
PHY 3373 - Intro Quantum Mechanics II
PHY 4373 - Intro Nuclear & Particle Physics
PHY 5370 - Quantum Mechanics I
PHY 5V95 - Graduate Research
PHY 5V99 - Thesis
PHY 6373 - Quantum Field Theory I
PHY 6374 - Quantum Field Theory II
PHY 6375 - Quantum Field Theory III
PHY 6V99 - Dissertation

Professional Activities

Gerald Cleaver is a member of American Physical Society, Sigma Phi Sigma, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the Mathematical Association of America. He is a Fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation. Cleaver is a physics textbook reviewer for McGraw-Hill and Thomas Learning, was a consultant and contributor to McGraw-Hill's Grade Summit Project, and is a referee for Physical Review Letters, Physics Essays, and Scientific Journals International. Cleaver is a frequent judge at local, regional, and state Science and Engineering Fairs.

Awards

Gerald Cleaver is a member of several honor societies including Sigma Pi Sigma Physics H.S., Sigma Xi Science H.S., Sigma Rho Phi Science and Theology H.S., Mortar Board, and Alpha Lambda Delta. He was a recipient of a Mensa graduate fellowship and Presidential and Valparaiso University scholarships and was a National Merit Scholar. Cleaver received the Lumina Award for Academic Excellence at Valparaiso. He is a current or past member of Mensa, the Triple-9 Society, the International Society for Philosophical Enquiry, and the Prometheus Society.

Hobbies and Interests

Radio-Controlled Model Aviation, Tae Kwon Do, Sailing, Snow Skiing, & Scouting