Gating Walls and Bridging Gaps: Validity in Language Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

Theoreticians and practitioners often speak as though classrooms and clinics were located outside the real world, but this is not so. The demand for the teaching, learning, and assessment of English language proficiency for international pilots and air traffic controllers is just one practical example touching almost everyone in the world that shows that contexts of actual language use are invariably in the real world just as learners and teachers are. From actual instances of discourse processing, in some cases with life or death consequences, it follows that judgments of validity, like those of ordinary truth, involve the dynamic interactions of persons, sign systems, and variable content in real contexts. Studies of so-called task-based performance assessment (in various forms and by other names) afford many ways to connect teaching, learning, and assessment. The authenticity, representativeness, and consequent generalizability of teaching, learning, and assessment tasks depends on their incorporation of the sign systems, social actions, and realia found in actual contexts of discourse. While codes, contexts, and interactions must be distinguished in theory, in practice they interact holistically. Our theories need to accommodate and account for the synergistic interactions

Light scalar mesons in J/psi−>J / psi ->NNmesonmesonmeson meson decays in a chiral unitary approach

We study the four-body decays $J/\psi\to N {\bar N}$ {\it meson meson} using a chiral unitary approach to account for the meson meson final state interaction (FSI). The calculation of the $J/\psi\to N \bar N \pi^+ \pi^-$ process properly reproduces the experimental data after taking the FSI of mesons and the contribution of intermediate $\rho$ meson into account. The isoscalar resonances $\sigma$, $f_0(980)$ and the isovector resonance $a_0(980)$ are generated through the FSI of the mesons in the channels $J/\psi\to N \bar N \pi^0 \pi^0$ and $J/\psi\to N \bar N \pi^0 \eta$, respectively. We also calculate the two mesons invariant mass distribution and the partial decay width of $J/\psi\to N \bar N K^+ K^-$ and $J/\psi\to N \bar N K^0 {\bar K}^0$, on which there is still no experimental data available.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures in LaTex, version accepted by Phys. Rev.

Radiative open charm decay of the Y(3940), Z(3930), X(4160) resonances

We determine the radiative decay amplitudes for decay into $D^*$ and $\bar{D} \gamma$, or $D^*_s$ and $\bar{D}_s \gamma$ of some of the charmonium like states classified as X,Y,Z resonances, plus some other hidden charm states which are dynamically generated from the interaction of vector mesons with charm. The mass distributions as a function of the $\bar{D} \gamma$ or $\bar{D}_s \gamma$ invariant mass show a peculiar behavior as a consequence of the $D^* \bar{D}^*$ nature of these states. The experimental search of these magnitudes can shed light on the nature of these states.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure

Chiral Symmetry and light resonances in hot and dense matter

We present a study of the $\pi\pi$ scattering amplitude in the $\sigma$ and $\rho$ channels at finite temperature and nuclear density within a chiral unitary framework. Meson resonances are dynamically generated in our approach, which allows us to analyze the behavior of their associated scattering poles when the system is driven towards chiral symmetry restoration. Medium effects are incorporated in three ways: (a) by thermal corrections of the unitarized scattering amplitudes, (b) by finite nuclear density effects associated to a renormalization of the pion decay constant, and complementarily (c) by extending our calculation of the scalar-isoscalar channel to account for finite nuclear density and temperature effects in a microscopic many-body implementation of pion dynamics. Our results are discussed in connection with several phenomenological aspects relevant for nuclear matter and Heavy-Ion Collision experiments, such as $\rho$ mass scaling vs broadening from dilepton spectra and chiral restoration signals in the $\sigma$ channel. We also elaborate on the molecular nature of $\pi\pi$ resonances.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures. Contribution to Hard Probes 2008, Illa de A Toxa, Spain, June 8th-14th 200

The two pion decay of the Roper resonance

We evaluate the two pion decay of the Roper resonance in a model where explicit re-scattering of the two final pions is accounted for by the use of unitarized chiral perturbation theory. Our model does not include an explicit $\epsilon$ or $\sigma$ scalar-isoscalar meson decay mode, instead it generates it dynamically by means of the pion re-scattering. The two ways, explicit or dynamically generated, of introducing this decay channel have very different amplitudes. Nevertheless, through interference with the other terms of the model we are able to reproduce the same phenomenology as models with explicit consideration of the $\epsilon$ meson.Comment: 17 latex pages, 11 eps figures. A few misprints corrected. A few new references. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Baryon polarization in low-energy unpolarized meson-baryon scattering

We compute the polarization of the final-state baryon, in its rest frame, in low-energy meson--baryon scattering with unpolarized initial state, in Unitarized BChPT. Free parameters are determined by fitting total and differential cross-section data (and spin-asymmetry or polarization data if available) for $pK^-$, $pK^+$ and $p\pi^+$ scattering. We also compare our results with those of leading-order BChPT

Chiral unitary theory: application to nuclear problems

In this talk we briefly describe some basic elements of chiral perturbation theory, $\chi PT$, and how the implementation of unitarity and other novel elements lead to a better expansion of the $T$ matrix for meson meson and meson baryon interactions. Applications are then done to the $\pi \pi$ interaction in nuclear matter in the scalar and vector channels, antikaons in nuclei and $K^-$ atoms, and how the $\phi$ meson properties are changed in a nuclear medium.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, Invited talk in the International Symposium on Nuclear Physics, Bombay, december 200

The nature of the Lambda(1405)

We present here some results supporting the nature of the $\Lambda(1405)$ resonance as dynamically generated from the meson baryon interaction in coupled channels and resulting from the superposition of two close-by poles. We find support for this picture in the $K^- p \to \pi^0 \pi^0 \Sigma^0$ reaction, which shows a different shape than the one obtained from the $\pi ^- p \to K^0 \pi \Sigma$ reaction. We also call the attention to the $K^- p \to \gamma \pi \Sigma$ with $\pi \Sigma$ in the $\Lambda(1405)$ region, which shows a narrow peak in the calculations around 1420 MeV. We also report on recent calculations of the radiative decay of the two $\Lambda(1405)$ states and on reactions to obtain information on these decay modes. Finally, we present results for the $pp\to p K^+\Lambda(1405)$ reaction recently measured at ANKE/COSY and compare them with theoretical results.Comment: Talk given at the NSTAR2007 Workshop, Bonn September 200

On the size of the sigma meson and its nature

In this work the nature of the \sigma or f_0(600) resonance is discussed by evaluating its quadratic scalar radius, \la r^2\ra_s^\sigma. This allows one to have a quantitative estimate for the size of this resonance. We obtain that the \sigma resonance is a compact object with \la r^2\ra_s^\sigma=(0.19\pm0.02)-i(0.06\pm0.02) fm^2. Within our approach, employing unitary chiral perturbation theory, the \sigma is a dynamically generated resonance that stems from the pion-pion interactions. Given its small size we conclude that the two pions inside the resonance are merged. A four-quark picture is then more appropriate. However, when the pion mass increases, for pion masses somewhat above 400 MeV, the picture of a two-pion molecule is the appropriate one. The \sigma is then a spread \pi\pi bound state. These results are connected with other recent works that support a non standard nature of the \sigma as well, while fulfilling strong QCD constraints, as well as with lattice QCD. We offer a detailed study of the low-energy S-wave \pi\pi scattering data from where we extract our values for the threshold parameters of S-wave \pi\pi phase shifts, the {\cal O}(p^4) chiral perturbation theory low energy constants as well as the \sigma pole position. From the comparison with other accurate determinations in the literature we obtain the average values for the isospin 0 S-wave \pi\pi threshold parameters, $a_0^0=0.220\pm0.003$, $b_0^0=0.279\pm 0.003 M_\pi^{-2}$, and for the real and imaginary parts of the \sigma pole position in \sqrt{s}, $458\pm14-i(261\pm17)$ MeV. The quark mass dependence of the size of the \sigma, its mass and width are considered too. The latter agree accurately with a previous lattice QCD calculation. The fact that the mass of this resonance tends to follow the threshold of two pions is a clear indication that the \sigma is a dynamically generated meson-meson resonance.Comment: 31 pages, 21 figure

Recent Developments in Chiral Unitary Dynamics of Resonances

In this talk I summarize recent findings made on the description of axial vector mesons as dynamically generated states from the interaction of peseudoscalar mesons and vector mesons, dedicating some attention to the two $K_1(1270)$ states. Then I review the generation of open and hidden charm scalar and axial states. Finally, I present recent results showing that the low lying $1/2^+$ baryon resonances for S=-1 can be obtained as bound states or resonances of two mesons and one baryon in coupled channels dynamics.Comment: Talk at the International Conference on Hadron Physics, Troia07, Canakkale, Turkey, Sep. 2007 and at the Chiral Symmetry in Hadron and Nuclear Physics Workshop, Chiral07, Osaka, November 200