Organization Charter
January 3, 1999
[Revised August 29, 1999; October 6, 1999; March, 2001]This charter outlines the purpose, goals, form and function of the Baryon Resonance Analysis Group (BRAG). This is a working document and is subject to change as deemed necessary by the participating members.
The Mission
To establish a network of researchers dedicated to the extraction of resonance information from electromagnetic and hadronic facilities worldwide.
The goals of this association are to:(a) Review
Given the expected proliferation of new measurements and analyses, a regular review of progress and remaining problems is needed. Many of the current analyses disagree in detail. Non-experts are thus presented with an array of inconsistent results and little guidance.
(b) Disseminate
A coordinated dissemination of data, existing results, and conventions will greatly facilitate the growth of this field, and will reduce the duplication of efforts in a period of limited manpower.
(c) Facilitate discussion
As a body of experts, this association will facilitate the discussion of controversial results, thus allowing important new ideas to be more quickly recognized, and errors to be more quickly corrected.
(d) Initiate
As a group with a common goal, we will initiate studies of problems not feasible for individual researchers. These will advance the field as a whole, and will allow us to take full advantage of the large amounts of data presently being taken.
An Organizational Framework
Membership in BRAG is defined as being listed on the membership roster. Those wishing to participate will supply address and interest lists to the Secretary. No fees are charged and members may withdraw at any time. Voting members must either attend one meeting or respond to one e-mail survey every two years.
Steering Committee:
The Steering Committee consists of 4 members elected through electronic nominations and balloting. Each member shall be permitted to nominate up to 4 members of BRAG to the Steering Committee. Nominees shall be asked if they are willing to serve on the Committee. A BRAG member who is not a nominee will be assigned to receive and count the votes. A vote shall be held by e-mail, where each voting member will specify on his/her ballot in rank order up to four choices for the Steering Committee. Points will be assigned in decending order from 4 to 1 to each candidate specified. The top four nominees by points will be declared by the Standing Secretary as the new Steering Committee. Elections take place before the first meeting of each calendar year. Members elected to this committee assign a Chair, a Secretary, a Working Group Liaison and a Publisher by mutual agreement, immediately following elections. If internal conflicts prevent this selection, results of the nomination/election process are voided. The nomination process is then reinitiated by the standing Secretary. Elections are finalized once a Chair and Secretary have been announced.
Duties of the Steering Committee:
The Steering Committee will delegate responsibility for the following tasks among themselves.
The Steering Committee schedules, announces and presides over meetings, and invites outside speakers.
The Steering Committee conducts the nomination and balloting process, and serves to maintain the roster and e-mail lists.
The Steering Committee maintains contact with the individual Working Groups and solicits regular updates on Working Group activites and progress every 4-6 months.
The Steering Committee is responsible for the oversight of regular dissemination and publication of BRAG meetings minutes and BRAG results, maintenance of the web site, and contact with experimental collaborations.
The Steering Committee is responsible for the search for external funding for BRAG.
Working Groups:
Working Groups are formed between BRAG members that have similar interests and common goals in a particular aspect of N* physics. BRAG members may belong to several Working Groups with overlapping interest. As the field evolves, the interest and the focus of a Working Group may adjust. A Working Group exists when at least three BRAG members have decided to collaborate on a particular issue and have notified the secretary of their intention. Working Group membership is open to all BRAG members and exists after it has been reported to the Secretary. One member of each Working Group will act as the main contact.
Standing Working Groups exist in the areas of Database Issues, Partial-Wave Analysis, and Resonance Extraction and Interpretation. The Working Group on Database Issues will address problems associated with the form, storage and distribution of data relevant to BRAG. The Working Group on Partial-Wave Analysis will mainly address the problem of extracting (relatively) model-independent amplitude information from the existing data for electromagnetic and hadronic reactions. The Working Group on Resonance Extraction and Interpretation will confront the problems associated with resonance-background separation and comparisons with QCD-based models.
The formation of new working groups as needed is encouraged.
Workshops:
All members must be notified one month in advance of the date of specialized Workshops that are organized by the Working Groups, in order that anyone interested can arrange to participate. A summary, in Latex, Tex or Postscript format, must be submitted to the Secretary, by the main contact, within one month of a Workshop's conclusion.
Meetings:
Meetings are called by consensus of the Steering Committee. At least one meeting will be called annually.
Agendas:
The Chair will solicit BRAG members for topics of interest at least one month prior to any meeting. The final Agenda will be distributed to the membership at least two weeks prior to any meeting.
Dissemination of Results:
Reports of the Working Groups will be accessible on the web site. Links to useful databases, reviews and documentation will also be compiled there. An overall review of recent work on the Baryon spectrum will be written every two years, based in part on the findings of the Working Groups. Authorship will be determined by the Steering Committee, based upon expertise and contributions to the Working Groups.
Resignations:
In cases where a Steering Committee member resigns, an interim election will be held at the next scheduled meeting. In the case of a Chair resigning, the Secretary will determine when the next meeting is to be held. Should both the Chair and Secretary resign, the remaining member(s) of the Steering Committee will announce the next meeting.
Amendments:
This charter may be amended by a two-thirds majority vote at any meeting, provided the suggested amendments are announced in the agenda.
