Two types of Hc2(T) dependences in Bi_2Sr_2Ca_(1-x)Y_xCu_2O_(8+delta) with different Yttrium content

We reanalyze the magnetization data collected on Bi_2Sr_2Ca_(1-x)Y_xCu_2O_(8+y) samples (Kim at al, Phys. Rev. B 72, 64525 (2005)) and argue that the method, which was used for the analysis of equilibrium magnetization data, is not adequate to the experimental situation. As a result, the temperature dependencies of the upper critical field Hc2(T) and the magnetic field penetration depth lambda (T), obtained in this work, are misinterpreted. Using a different approach to analysis, we demonstrate that the normalizedHc2(T) curves are rather different from those presented in the original publication and do not follow predictions of the Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg theory. Another important observation is that the Hc2(T) dependencies for two samples with different levels of doping are qualitatively different.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Soft Immutability and Imputed Gay Identity : Recent Developments in Transgender and Sexual-Orientation-Based Asylum Law

This Article surveys the law of LGBT asylum as it has developed over the past fifteen years, first, with the landmark case of Matter of Toboso-Alfonso, which recognized homosexuality as a particular social group ; second, with the Ninth Circuit\u27s recent cases adopting a soft immutability standard of identity and expanding asylum protection to transgender individuals; and third, with a discussion of the particular social group analysis as it applies to transgender asylum seekers and the emergence of the imputed gay identity category as an alternative basis for relief for those litigants who do not identify as gay or lesbian but who nonetheless face anti-gay or anti-lesbian persecution

New Majoritarian Constitutionalism

Ever since Alexander Bickel coined the phrase “countermajoritarian difficulty,” commentators have frequently described the Supreme Court as either a “majoritarian” or “counter-majoritarian” institution. In this heuristic dichotomy, the Justices either base constitutional law on their own independent and subjective interpretations or they rely on extrinsic indicators to determine constitutional meaning. In practice, however, this dichotomy is neither clearly evident, nor clearly applied, and a third approach—“New Majoritarian” Constitutionalism—has emerged. Under new majoritarian constitutionalism, the Court considers (1) the actual decisions of courts and juries; (2) legislative trends; (3) executive branch practices; and (4) geographic disparities within various jurisdictions. This model of majoritarianism accepts the traditional idea that constitutional decisions must be grounded in conventional lawmaking sources and that interpretations of vague constitutional language should accord with broadly held, majoritarian positions. This approach, however, creatively uses traditional indicators to a far greater extent than others. This Article provides a new typology of majoritarian constitutional theories that reorients our understanding of the role of objective indicators of meaning, with major implications for scholarship and doctrine. In addition to its descriptive power, new majoritarianism has important normative implications—promoting institutional process values such as stability and transparency, while reinforcing the centrality of coordinate branch dialogue in evolving constitutional meaning

Temperature dependence of the upper critical field of high-Tc superconductors from isothermal magnetization data. Influence of a temperature dependent Ginzburg-Landau parameter

We show that the scaling procedure, recently proposed for the evaluation of the temperature variation of the normalized upper critical field of type-II superconductors, may easily be modified in order to take into account a possible temperature dependence of the Ginzburg-Landau parameter kappa. As an example, we consider kappa (T) as it follows from the microscopic theory of superconductivity.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figur

Muscular Procedure: Conditional Deference in the Executive Detention Cases

Although much of the prevailing scholarship surrounding the 9/11 decisions tends to downgrade procedural decisions of law as weak and inadequate, procedural rulings have affected the law of national security in remarkable ways. The Supreme Court and lower courts have used procedural devices to require, as a condition of deference, that the coordinate branches respect transsubstantive procedural values like transparency and deliberation. This is “muscular procedure,” the judicial invocation of a procedural rule to ensure the integrity of coordinate branch decision-making processes. Through muscular procedure, courts have accelerated the resolution of large numbers of highly charged cases. Moreover, they have refined their institutional role by requiring the executive to reasonably interpret authorizing legislation, properly implement a congressional delegation, and sufficiently coordinate intra-branch deliberations, and by requiring Congress to oversee executive decision-making through clear legislation. These decisions are significant not only for their outcomes, but also for the way they have integrated procedural standards into sensitive areas of law defined by large amounts of deference to coordinate branch expertise. Muscular procedure thus has relevance not only within national security, but the plenary power context more generally, where the judiciary maintains a comparative institutional advantage in resolving procedural questions

Chevron Meets Youngstown: National Security and the Administrative State

The past several years have witnessed a burst of scholarship at the intersection of national security and administrative law. Many supporters of this approach endorse a heightened, “super-strong” brand of Chevron deference to presidential decisionmaking during times of emergency. Believing that the Executive’s comparative advantage in expertise, access to information, and accountability warrant minimal judicial scrutiny, these Chevron-backers advance an Executive-centric view of national security powers. Other scholars, by contrast, dispute Chevron’s relevance to national security. These Chevron-detractors argue for an interventionist judiciary in national security matters. Both camps criticize the Supreme Court’s scaling of deference to the Executive after 9/11: Chevron-backers argue that the Court failed to accord sufficient deference to the President, while Chevron-detractors argue that the Court failed to clarify the scope of individual liberties. However, neither side appreciates the role that Justice Jackson’s seminal Youngstown concurrence has played in the Court’s resolution of recent national security cases. Youngstown makes congressional legislation – not Executive power or individual rights – the central judicial concern in cases pitting individual liberty against Executive power. The post-9/11 Supreme Court, following Justice Jackson, has used judicial review to catalyze congressional action by remanding to Congress policy questions lacking joint political branch support. This dual-branch theory of governance preserves a critical rule-of-law basis for judicial review of national security decisionmaking that Chevron’s backers and its detractors overlook

Generalized Emission Functions for Photon Emission from Quark-Gluon Plasma

The Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effects on photon emission from the quark gluon plasma have been studied as a function of photon mass, at a fixed temperature of the plasma. The integral equations for the transverse vector function (${\bf \tilde{f}(\tilde{p}_\perp)}$) and the longitudinal function ($\tilde{g}({\bf \tilde{p}_\perp})$) consisting of multiple scattering effects are solved by the self consistent iterations method and also by the variational method for the variable set \{$p_0,q_0,Q^2$\}, considering the bremsstrahlung and the $\bf aws$ processes. We define four new dynamical scaling variables, $x^b_T$,$x^a_T$,$x^b_L$,$x^a_L$ for bremsstrahlung and {\bf aws} processes and analyse the transverse and longitudinal components as a function of \{$p_0,q_0,Q^2$\}. We generalize the concept of photon emission function and we define four new emission functions for massive photon emission represented by $g^b_T$, $g^a_T$, $g^b_L$, $g^a_L$. These have been constructed using the exact numerical solutions of the integral equations. These four emission functions have been parameterized by suitable simple empirical fits. In terms of these empirical emission functions, the virtual photon emission from quark gluon plasma reduces to one dimensional integrals that involve folding over the empirical $g^{b,a}_{T,L}$ functions with appropriate quark distribution functions and the kinematic factors. Using this empirical emission functions, we calculated the imaginary part of the photon polarization tensor as a function of photon mass and energy.Comment: In nuclear physics journals and arxiv listings, my name used to appear as S.V.S. Sastry. Hereafter, my name will appear as, S.V. Suryanarayan

On the interpretation of the equilibrium magnetization in the mixed state of high-Tc superconductors

We apply a recently developed scaling procedure to the analysis of equilibrium magnetization M(H) data that were obtained for T-2212 and Bi-2212single crystals and were reported in the literature. The temperature dependencies of the upper critical field and the magnetic field penetration depth resulting from our analysis are distinctly different from those obtained in the original publications. We argue that theoretical models, which are usually employed for analyses of the equilibrium magnetization in the mixed state of type-II superconductors are not adequate for a quantitative description of high-Tc superconductors. In addition, we demonstrate that the scaled equilibrium magnetization M(H) curve for a Tl-2212 sample reveals a pronounced kink, suggesting a phase transition in the mixed state.Comment: 9 pages, 5figure

Approximate Selection Rule for Orbital Angular Momentum in Atomic Radiative Transitions

We demonstrate that radiative transitions with \Delta l = - 1 are strongly dominating for all values of n and l, except small region where l << n.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

New Majoritarian Constitutionalism

Ever since Alexander Bickel coined the phrase “countermajoritarian difficulty,” commentators have frequently described the Supreme Court as either a “majoritarian” or “counter-majoritarian” institution. In this heuristic dichotomy, the Justices either base constitutional law on their own independent and subjective interpretations or they rely on extrinsic indicators to determine constitutional meaning. In practice, however, this dichotomy is neither clearly evident, nor clearly applied, and a third approach—“New Majoritarian” Constitutionalism—has emerged. Under new majoritarian constitutionalism, the Court considers (1) the actual decisions of courts and juries; (2) legislative trends; (3) executive branch practices; and (4) geographic disparities within various jurisdictions. This model of majoritarianism accepts the traditional idea that constitutional decisions must be grounded in conventional lawmaking sources and that interpretations of vague constitutional language should accord with broadly held, majoritarian positions. This approach, however, creatively uses traditional indicators to a far greater extent than others. This Article provides a new typology of majoritarian constitutional theories that reorients our understanding of the role of objective indicators of meaning, with major implications for scholarship and doctrine. In addition to its descriptive power, new majoritarianism has important normative implications—promoting institutional process values such as stability and transparency, while reinforcing the centrality of coordinate branch dialogue in evolving constitutional meaning