Photoproduction of K Sigma(1385) from the nucleon

The reactions of $K \Sigma(1385)$ photoproduction, i.e., $\gamma p \to K^+ \Sigma^0(1385)$ and $\gamma n \to K^+ \Sigma^-(1385)$, are investigated in the resonance energy region for studying the role of the nucleon and $\Delta$ resonances of masses around 2 GeV. The Lagrangians for describing the decays of these resonances into the $K \Sigma(1385)$ channel are constructed and the decay amplitudes are obtained, which allows us to determine the coupling constants using the predictions of quark models or the data listed by the Particle Data Group. The resulting cross sections are compared to the data from the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility and the SPring-8, which indicates nontrivial contributions from the two-star-rated resonances in the Particle Data Group as well as from some missing resonances predicted by a quark model.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, talk given at 12th International Conference on Meson-Nucleon Physics and the Structure of the Nucleon (MENU 2010), Williamsburg, Virginia, 31 May - 4 Jun 201

The evaluation of effectiveness of school-based small group mentoring system : Discovery Scholars Program at UT Austin

Previous studies have found that students’ college experiences differ vastly depending on their socioeconomic status (SES), not only in their academic achievement (Chen & Carroll, 2005; Harackiewicz et al., 2014), but also in the wholesome process of the college experience, including college preparation and socio-cultural practices while at college (Engle & Tinto, 2008; Merritt, 2008). The present study examines the effectiveness of a small-group mentoring program, Discovery Scholars Program, targeted for students identified as at-risk due to SES and lower entrance scores at the University of Texas at Austin. Through exploring the survey data collected as part of the program, the current study explored the following research questions: 1) Did the students engage in and benefit from DSP events and feel supported by the DSP groups? 2) Did the DSP program help students develop academic skills necessary for college life? 3) Did the DSP program help students feel more comfortable and confident as a part of the UT community? The results showed that, while more long-term goals of the program were difficult to measure, the program succeeded in helping students develop social support groups and academic skills that aided in their adjustment process to college.Educational Psycholog

Skyrmions with vector mesons revisited

In order to develop a model that can describe both a single baryon and multi-baryon systems on the same footing, we re-investigate the Skyrme model in a chiral Lagrangian derived from the hidden local symmetry (HLS) up to $O(p^4)$ including the homogeneous Wess-Zumino terms. We use the master formulas that connect the parameters of the HLS Lagrangian and a class of holographic QCD models, which provides a controllable way to determine the low-energy constants of the Lagrangian once the pion decay constant and the vector meson mass are given. Therefore, this model allows us to study the role of vector mesons in the skyrmion structure. We find that the $\rho$ and $\omega$ vector mesons have different roles in the skyrmion structure and that the $\omega$ meson has an important role in the properties of the nucleon.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, XV International Conference on Hadron Spectroscopy-Hadron 2013, 4-8 November 2013, Nara, Japa

On nonlinear Schr\"odinger equations with almost periodic initial data

We consider the Cauchy problem of nonlinear Schr\"odinger equations (NLS) with almost periodic functions as initial data. We first prove that, given a frequency set $\pmb{\omega} =\{\omega_j\}_{j = 1}^\infty$, NLS is local well-posed in the algebra $\mathcal{A}_{\pmb{\omega}}(\mathbb R)$ of almost periodic functions with absolutely convergent Fourier series. Then, we prove a finite time blowup result for NLS with a nonlinearity $|u|^p$, $p \in 2\mathbb{N}$. This elementary argument presents the first instance of finite time blowup solutions to NLS with generic almost periodic initial data.Comment: 18 pages. References updated. To appear in SIAM J. Math. Ana