The 750 GeV SS-cion: Where else should we look for it?

The resonance $S$ at $\sim 750$ GeV in the diphoton channel observed by ATLAS and CMS, if it holds up, is almost certainly the ($S$)cion of a larger dynasty in a UV completion that may very well be connected to the hierarchy problem. At this stage, however, an effective field theory framework provides a useful way to parametrize searches for this resonance in other channels. Assuming that the excess is due to a new scalar or pseudoscalar boson, we study associated production of $S$ ("$S$-strahlung") at the LHC and propose searches in several clean channels like $\gamma\gamma\ell\ell$, \gamma\gamma\ell\eslash and \ell\ell\ell\gamma\eslash to probe dimension-5 operators coupling $S$ to Standard Model gauge bosons. We consider a range of widths for $S$, from 5 GeV to 45 GeV, and find that the three channels probe complementary regions of parameter space and the suppression scale $\Lambda$. The finding of most immediate relevance is that with 3 fb$^{-1}$, the LHC might already reveal new excesses in the $\gamma\gamma\ell\ell$ channel and a 5(3) $\sigma$ discovery may already be possible after collecting 65(25) fb$^{-1}$ of data with \ell\ell\ell\gamma\eslash events if the scale of the new physics is within $\sim$ 9 TeV for couplings respecting 8 TeV LHC bounds and compatible with the observed excess in diphotons for a wide resonance as suggested by the ATLAS Collaboration. Beyond the EFT parametrization, we found realizations of models with heavy vector-like quarks and leptons which can simultaneously fit the diphoton excess and be discovered in the channels proposed here.Comment: 11 pages, 2 tables, 5 figures. References and comments added. Version accepted for publication in Physics Letters

Original(ism) Sin

(Excerpt) During President Trump’s term in office, the Senate confirmed nearly 250 of his federal judicial nominees, including 3 to the Supreme Court of the United States. That number amounts to nearly a third of the federal judiciary’s roughly 800 active members. By and large, the judges nominated by President Trump purport to apply some form of originalist constitutional interpretation or construction, though the subject of originalism featured perhaps most prominently at the confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett, whom President Trump nominated in October of 2020 to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Whatever one thinks of the vast literature on the variants, merits, and demerits of originalism, the Trump Presidency has ensured its long-term relevance—if not its ascendancy—in federal court. The general thrust of originalism is that judges should interpret the U.S. Constitution—or construct its meaning, where necessary—as if it possesses some sort of fixed meaning, a meaning typically anchored in the intentions or beliefs of those who drafted or ratified it, or in the original public meaning of the words and phrases it comprises. It is no accident that a Republican President and Senate jointly prioritized the confirmation of originalist judges; there is a strong correlation between purportedly originalist approaches to constitutional interpretation and conservative policy preferences more generally. Indeed, some scholars have argued that originalism, as the term is presently understood, derives at least in part from a political strategy adopted by the Reagan administration to advance particular policy preferences through the courts

Euphemism and Jus Cogens

Jus cogens norms of international law encompass the most stringent prohibitions of the law of nations. They reflect a global—and typically moral—consensus about impermissible conduct so complete and forceful that no derogation is permissible under any circumstances. Yet states derogate nevertheless. Lacking any valid legal justification for violating jus cogens norms, derogating states instead seek to euphemize their unlawful conduct. Doing so appears at a glance to be a calculated choice that allows States to have their cake and eat it too—to acknowledge the peremptory norms that purportedly bind all sovereigns while acting freely in violation of those norms by describing away their own misconduct. Perhaps the most famous recent example of this phenomenon is the United States’ use of the term “enhanced interrogation” to describe its methods for torturing individuals detained in the early years of the War on Terror. Through a case study of the CIA’s torture program, this essay explores the distinctive and underappreciated link between euphemism and jus cogens. It argues that the special legal-moral character of peremptory norms of international law creates an intrinsic connection between false denials of legal liability and misleading moral descriptions. Thus, far from reflecting an independent messaging decision, the State’s deployment of euphemism to soften perceptions of its conduct flows necessarily from any decision it takes to deny legal liability. Moreover, these euphemisms tend to reverse the moral valence of the conduct at issue, suggesting it is not inexcusable but rather both legal and essential. The consequences of such euphemisms—their influence on public opinion and on lower-level officials empowered to carry out violations—are therefore substantial, and arise independently of any specific incentive to produce such effects. Euphemism thus operates as a powerful and surprisingly sophisticated device to facilitate law-breaking, even as its use is entailed by the State’s legal denials. One primary effect of this dynamic is paradoxical: it tends to strengthen international recognition of relevant peremptory norms while simultaneously undermining the practical effect of those norms

A Real-Property Model of Privacy

Privacy has been a significant subject of scholarly attention for decades, but it has never been more confusing than it is today. As myriad social pressures inexorably corral an ever-growing share of the world’s population down the digital rabbit hole, more and more people become both users and targets of new technologies. The complexity of these technologies and their unprecedented interactions with one another have completely outstripped the ability of the populace as a whole to understand the privacy implications of our new and shifting reality. Confronting privacy questions in this context is all but paralyzing. This Article offers a new framework for conceiving of privacy and privacy rights, which simplifies privacy questions in a hopelessly complex environment and provides a basis for strengthening privacy rights. That framework is built on a realist view of property rights, which serves the critical analogical functions of clarifying our relationship to our privacy interests, and offering steadying guidance for addressing privacy questions that appear blurred by rapid technological advancement. It is both notable and counterintuitive that to modernize our theoretical understanding of privacy may require us to embrace a model built on the real-property regime, which is classically characterized by its adherence to long-standing, even arcane, common-law rules

Virtuous Law-Breaking

A rapidly growing body of scholarship embraces virtue jurisprudence, a series of (often ad hoc) attempts to incorporate the philosophical tradition of virtue ethics into legal theory. Broadly understood, virtue ethics describes an approach to moral questions that emphasizes the importance of developing and embodying various virtues, often as manifestations of human flourishing. Scholars typically contrast virtue ethics with deontological and consequentialist moral theories, tracing virtue-centered analysis to ancient Greek philosophers, and in particular to Aristotle. Virtue ethics has experienced a revival over the past 65 years; but, long before that, it proved especially influential in Catholic moral thought, particularly through the work of Aquinas. Perhaps relatedly, scholars have seized on virtue jurisprudence to defend a range of politically conservative positions, such as originalist constitutional interpretation and the propriety of utilizing the law to regulate ostensibly “private” immoralities.  This Article reveals the radically underappreciated progressive promise of virtue jurisprudence. Virtue jurisprudence requires no religious commitments whatsoever, but a strong version entails acceptance of the moral significance of developing one’s character—both within and without the law. On a compelling understanding of the virtues, rejecting a state of perpetual disadvantage under the law is a meaningful marker of the virtue of self-respect, and a repudiation of the vice of servility that would otherwise be imposed by the legal system itself. Thus, contrary to the predominant tenor of research on the subject, virtue jurisprudence can ground significant resistance to—and even defiance of—the law. In making this argument, the Article also draws novel connections between virtue jurisprudence and literature on (inter alia) race, feminism, and sexual orientation to reveal the unnoticed potential of virtue jurisprudence to push forward work in those and related areas. At a time when massive and widespread protests across the United States reflect a groundswell of support for overturning certain long-standing, legally-ingrained, systemic disadvantages of people of color, many might be surprised to learn that virtue jurisprudence can serve as a potent theoretical ally.

Rheology of High-Capillary Number Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media

Flow of immiscible fluids in porous media at high capillary numbers may be characterized by an effective viscosity. We demonstrate that the effective viscosity is well-described by the Lichtenecker-Rother equation. Depending on the pore geometry, wettability, and viscosity of the fluids, the exponent α in this equation can have different values. We find α = 1 when fluids are well-mixed with small bubbles, α = 0.6 in two- and 0.5 in three-dimensional systems when there is less mixing with the appearance of big bubbles, and α = −0.5 when lubrication layers are formed along the pore walls. Our arguments are based on analytical and numerical methods

Marked Changes in Gut Microbiota in Cardio-Surgical Intensive Care Patients:A Longitudinal Cohort Study

Background: Virtually no studies on the dynamics of the intestinal microbiota in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) are published, despite the increasingly recognized important role of microbiota on human physiology. Critical care patients undergo treatments that are known to influence the microbiota. However, dynamics and extent of such changes are not yet fully understood. To address this topic, we analyzed the microbiota before, during and after planned major cardio surgery that, for the first time, allowed us to follow the microbial dynamics of critical care patients. In this prospective, observational, longitudinal, single center study, we analyzed the fecal microbiota using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results: Samples of 97 patients admitted between April 2015 and November 2016 were included. In 32 patients, data of all three time points (before, during and after admission) were available for analysis. We found a large intra-individual variation in composition of gut microbiota. During admission, a significant change in microbial composition occurred in most patients, with a significant increase in pathobionts combined with a decrease in strictly anaerobic gut bacteria, typically beneficial for health. A lower bacterial diversity during admission was associated with longer hospitalization. In most patients analyzed at all three time points, the change in microbiota during hospital stay reverted to the original composition post-discharge. Conclusions: Our study shows that, even with a short ICU stay, patients present a significant change in microbial composition shortly after admission. The unique longitudinal setup of this study displayed a restoration of the microbiota in most patients to baseline composition post-discharge, which demonstrated its great restorative capacity. A relative decrease in benign or even beneficial bacteria and increase of pathobionts shifts the microbial balance in the gut, which could have clinical relevance. In future studies, the microbiota of ICU patients should be considered a good target for optimisation